Students for International Mission Service (SIMS)

Outlook 2002
ethiopia
.........David Creamer
.........sophomore
.........School of Medicine

This past summer I went to Ethiopia. I found myself overjoyed to be serving in a mission hospital. I learned how to be a Christian physician. The doctor there, Nick Walters, was a very soft-spoken, Christian man. Before going on rounds, he started each day in devotion with the hospital staff in order to begin with Christ in mind. He then prays with his inpatient department workers before seeing anyone. What a difference that sight was to me! I can now see how easy it is to be a physician and a Christian at the same time. It is easy to pray with patients if you want to. I thank God because I now see how those experiences will impact my life as a future physician.

During my second week in Ethiopia, I found myself observing a delivery in which the child was in fetal distress. The only two doctors in the hospital were there delivering this child with suction. When the baby came out it was in respiratory distress. I stood back and watched both doctors work to bring the child out of distress. The child survived and I learned the importance of being trained in what to do and working as a team.

Though I just watched and took mental notes on the reality of the untrained worker vs. the trained worker, I realized that when I got back home I needed to make sure I learned what to do in emergency situations.

The following day, I stopped by the delivery room to see if I could help. The nurse on duty was heading up the delivery.

I “scrubbed” in to assist the delivery. This would not be my first time assisting, I knew my job well. I was to assist the mother with her contractions, help induce contractions, be of moral support, hand instruments to the nurse as needed, cut the umbilical cord, take the baby from the nurse, suck any secretions out of the baby’s mouth and nose, tie the cord off, wrap and keep the baby warm, and deliver the baby to the mother. It’s a fairly easy job.

So there I was doing my job, helping, when all of this myconium (excrement) came tumbling out. This meant fetal distress, something that both the nurse and I were unprepared to handle.

The baby came out, I cut the umbilical cord, and the nurse flipped the baby upside down to give it a pat to begin breathing. The baby was suspended upside down and not breathing. The nurse handed the baby to me supposing that I had some training on what to do. After all it was my job to clear any secretions out of the baby’s mouth and nose. Yet, here I was sucking out copious amounts of myconium from the baby’s mouth and nose while the nurse just rubbed the baby. As I had sucked several bulbs worth of myconium, I gazed down at the little Ethiopian boy who looked so cute and innocent, and realized he was as new to this world as I was new at being a doctor. He was still not breathing.

“The Bible tells us to go to all nations. Matthew 28:19–20 ‘Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…. Some will go while others will remain to take care of the needs around us.” Emmanuel Rudatsikira, MD, MPH Assistant professor School of Public Health, LLU

I began to panic. Here I was in my first emergency situation with the first male child I have seen born and who also was the mother’s first child. I said a short prayer that I ended up repeating again and again, “God, don’t let this child die.” How could I lose a child on my very first emergency situation?

I suddenly found myself telling the health assistant in a polite but firm voice to bring me the pediatric ventilator—NOW—and telling another to get the oxygen tank over here—NOW. I really didn’t know what to do, but I found myself doing exactly what I had seen the doctors do the day before. I was trying to mimic the exact procedure that they were doing, all the while praying. After a few minutes I saw that belly of the adorable baby boy come bulging out like a balloon! A sense of relief filled my heart as my prayer had been answered. When the doctor arrived just seconds later, he examined the baby. I asked if the child would be all right, and he said we would have to see if the baby would make it through the night.

When I returned to the room about a half an hour later, the child was gone. Had the baby died while I was gone? I panicked as I ran to the nursing station to ask what happened to the child. They told me the baby was with the mother. The child survived that night and left the hospital in good neurological and physical health three days later. It may never have screamed a cry to the world for it’s first grasp of air, but afterwards my soul screamed for the “Air” that never leaves of us.

“May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector for those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter
And a servant to all in need.”
—Tibetan prayer

[Outlook 2002]

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