We (Chuck and Angela) had planned on going to Cameroon in May, but we were not able to travel then due to some road closures around the time of a national holiday. Instead, we were able to work at Chogoria Hospital in Kenya alongside our friends, Will and Mary Bailey Smith. Chuck still wanted to go to Cameroon this year and was able to travel to Mbingo in September and JR Young joined him.
Mbingo Baptist Hospital continues to advance and grow despite ongoing challenges related to the conflict in the region. This makes travel difficult for the patients and for the staff of the hospital. Even still, the quality of care and what is offered at Mbingo continue to improve.
This picture shows Chuck and JR in one of the newer buildings at Mbingo. The sign behind is for the Baptist Institute of Health Sciences. The Institute was created and structured to organize all of the teaching and academic programs at Mbingo. This was important to get appropriate recognition from the Cameroonian government for our graduating residents.
This is a photo of most of the current CIMS (Christian Internal Medicine Residency) residents and some of the faculty (both full-time and visiting faculty). Some of the residents and faculty were traveling while we were at Mbingo this time. It is encouraging to see the growth and development of CIMS over the years including seeing some of the former CIMS residents now holding faculty positions at Mbingo.
This is from a morning report case conference. The case is being presented by one of the interns and the discussion is being guided by the chief resident. Chuck saw this patient with them on the wards. It was a patient with newly diagnosed ulcerative colitis with lower extremity skin manifestations. The residents had a great discussion with many important teaching points brought up.
Chuck and JR hosted the Cameroonian CIMS faculty over for dinner one night. It was great to spend time with them and get a chance to hear their perspective on the history of the CIMS program. Dr. Tumi, Dr. Norah, Dr. Sunday, and Dr. Virginine were all prior CIMS residents and have seen the advances of the program over the years. We also had a chance to discuss some of the ongoing challenges and think of ways to address them in an effort to continue to improve the program.
Ultrasound continues to be an important method of evaluating and treating patients at Mbingo. This has been true for years, but over the past year the CIMS program has obtained multiple portable handheld ultrasound devices (Butterfly) which allows the residents to better use ultrasound at the bedside. This picture shows Dr. Alei and Dr. Gaelle evaluating a patient with ultrasound. Chuck was able to work with the residents and teach on POCUS (point-of-care ultrasound).
Due to the ongoing conflict in the region and the COVID pandemic, there have been less visiting faculty at CIMS over the past few years. This means that the teaching requirements of the CIMS program falls on fewer shoulders. We have been able to support the faculty at Mbingo by uploading some of our lectures from our home institution that they are able to use in their teaching conferences. The COVID pandemic moved many of our conferences in the US to a virtual model and the lectures were saved during that time. This gave us the ability to share these lectures with the Mbingo faculty and residents.
Nothing to see here...just a snail the size of your fist making his way down the path.
It was great to be able to serve in Cameroon alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ at Mbingo. Every trip to Mbingo is different, but every time it feels like we are back at our African home. The greetings on arrival are always warm and the goodbyes when leaving are sad, but that only makes us look forward to the next time we can be at Mbingo.
