Sierra Leone, Day 3

Another eye-opening day in Sierra Leone!

We met last night to arrange a plan of attack for today's off-ship work. I ended up driving to the Connaught Hospital site with Joe (structural engineer), Geoff (electrical engineer) and Ryan (Mercy Ship's off-ship project director and all around awesome dude). The rest of the team walked to the closer Maternity and Children's Hospitals.

At Connaught, we first met with the hospital manager, who introduced us the head maintenance guy. From that point on, the head maintenance guy led us from building to building, answering any questions we had or referring us to someone who could.

At each building, Geoff evaluated electrical supply/demand, working closely with Phillip, their head electrician. They took close looks at each building's power management systems, getting specs on power distribution panels, generators, and other electrical things that I have little to no clue about.

Joe looked at the structural condition of every building and took note of areas of concern. Luckily, upon first glance, none of the buildings are coming down soon, but we'll be going back in the next few days to take a closer look at the more worrisome structures.

Ryan and I took general notes on every building, identifying facility functions, patient capacity, equipment conditions, and perceived immediate needs from the hospital staff. Two things really struck me from our initial walkthrough.

First, every waiting room is full. Every single one. And whats more, I figure that most of the people with tickets in line wont get in before the day is done.

Second, there is so much equipment that is either in pieces, broken, or not being used. The hospital has one working X-ray machine. Just next door, another X-ray machine has been sitting in pieces for 5 years because no one knows how to put it together! Didn't expect to see that.

It's easy to get overwhelmed by the excess of immediate needs that this hospital has. But when it comes down to it, we're here for a specific goal: provide consistent and adequate water, electricity, waster water management, and structural stability to all the hospital facilities. This in and of itself is a monumental challenge, and it is re-assuring to know that we are only Phase 1 of Mercy Ships work with this hospital. I hope and pray the assessments and recommendations eMi provides will serve as a base point for this hospital to better serve the people of Sierra Leone.

Until tomorrow!

-Mike