Day 21 - Looking out for our health

Food has been a bit of a concerns for all of us.  On the day after we arrived here in Ghana, we were all briefed by a local doctor and warned about a severe cholera outbreak in Accra and surrounding area. 

International SOS Comment
All travelers to Ghana should pay strict attention to hygiene and be vigilant in their choice of food and water. Cholera epidemics tend to occur in areas where sanitary conditions have deteriorated, such as refugee camps and war zones. With the exception of health and relief workers, cholera rarely infects travelers who avoid highly unsanitary areas.

• Drink only boiled or bottled water, water that has been treated with chlorine or iodine, or carbonated beverages.
• Avoid ice, as it may have been made with unsafe water.
• Choose food that has been thoroughly cooked while fresh and is served hot. Avoid food sold by street vendors, raw fruit or vegetables
• (including salad), fish and shellfish.
• Medical personnel and relief workers traveling to cholera-infected areas should consider being vaccinated against cholera.

We have all had to be very careful about food selection

Our ECG team members have been very fortunate
as ECG has carefully selected the food they serve us for lunch

Barbara, our country manager for CDC in Ghana also warned us that many of the CSC team members start to have health issues in the third week.  We are now nearly completed our third week and, almost without exception, each of us has had to contend with some sort of health related issues.  For some, the treatment for many of these ailments has been a steady diet of soda crackers and early to bed a couple of nights.  Others have been grateful for Immodium or prescription medication prescribed by their home doctors and brought along as a precaution. 

For one of our unfortunate colegues though it was even more serious than that.
Through the later part of this week, this team member came down with cramps and pains which necessitated a trip to the local Ghanaian medical clinic.  A battery of blood tests and unine tests followed but no obvious cause had been identified.  The pain and discomfort continued and seemed to be getting worse.  The other CSC team member took turns staying with her at the hotel or accompanying her for tests or to medical clinics. 

Since I had no client meetings today, I offered to stay back from ECG, and work from the hotel to keep her company today.  I had just set up shop in the lounge area when she got word that a German doctor from the German Embassy in Accra would be available to see her today.  We quickly arranged a cab into Accra, picked up the results of yesterday's blood tests and urine tests and headed into the city.  We  found the German embassy, and was able to see the German doctor shortly after noon.  After another round of tests, she received a prescription and we headed back to Tema and the hotel hoping that this was the end of the ordeal. 

Unfortunately the story does not end there and another emergency trip into the hospital in Accra was necessary in the wee hours of Saturday AM.  This was followed by another trip into the German Embassy in Accra early Saturday morning.  She was in obvious pain and discomfort.  Her companions, including me, did our best to keep her spirits up but otherwise we were helpless.  After serious consultation between the doctor and patient, it was deemed to be in her best interest to travel back to her home country to continue her medical treatment there. 

The rest of our CSC team members were saddened to see her go home.  We miss her terribly.  So ended another sad day in Ghana.