Sunday 23 October 2011
18/10/11 - 19/10/11- 20/10/11 and 21/10/11
After the excitement of Monday the next few days were relatively quite. I did some more sutures with one of the doctors who was trained as a surgeon and inserted more catheters and IVs. Luckily there were no major emergencies so all in all it was a relatively quiet few days.
17/10/11 - Truck man
On Monday I inserted my first IV into someone just before a man was carried into the Emergency Room on a stretcher. Apparently he had fallen from the cab of his lorry whilst going around the corner at full speed. Unfortunately no one knew about any other conditions he might have had before he fell, however he presented with high blood pressure and when the doctors roused him he confirmed that he had 'pressure' so he was give two sprays of nitrates under his tongue. Moments later he had crashed and the doctors started CPR immediately taking turns. He was intubated so that his trachea remained open and one of the doctors controlled his breathing; he was given a total of three shots of adrenaline and his heart had stopped beating for nineteen minutes before it finally started again. Throughout the CPR his oxygen saturation had been fine (98% or above) but as different specialists from other areas came down to ER his saturation levels started to drop. I was put in charge of controlling his air bag and ensuring that he continued to receive as much oxygen as possible. His stats continued to drop over the next hour and the surgeon announced that he thought the man had a haemopneumothorax which is where blood starts to collapse the lung. He inserted a chest tube which should help to release the pressure on the lung and re-inflate it. Although the man still wasn't stabilized he was sent to ICU where he was then sent to surgery. A few days later we found out that he had survived.
Later that day I performed my first sutures including one over the eye and a very wide cut on a young boys leg.
Later that day I performed my first sutures including one over the eye and a very wide cut on a young boys leg.
13/10/11 and 14/10/11
On Thursday I joined the UWI interns for a suturing lesson and learnt about continuous and discontinuous stitching as well as the different types of thread used. Hopefully I will be able to do some sutures of my own soon!
On Friday I spent the morning with the nurses in triage which is where the patients are first assessed; the nurses take blood pressure, glucose and urine tests as well as a brief history of the complaint. Depending on the seriousness of their stats and complaint depends on whether they are seen by the triage doctor, sent straight to the ER or sent home. I tested the blood sugar of several of the patients until a call from ER came through recalling all doctors and nurses back to ER as there had been a bus crash and all the injured persons were coming to the hospital. Back in the ER I was given a pen and paper and followed one of the nurses around as she gave some of the wounded a painkiller and I took down their names for the records later. As it turned out most of the injured where walking wounded - only one, a pregnant woman, was hurt badly enough to be admitted.
On Friday I spent the morning with the nurses in triage which is where the patients are first assessed; the nurses take blood pressure, glucose and urine tests as well as a brief history of the complaint. Depending on the seriousness of their stats and complaint depends on whether they are seen by the triage doctor, sent straight to the ER or sent home. I tested the blood sugar of several of the patients until a call from ER came through recalling all doctors and nurses back to ER as there had been a bus crash and all the injured persons were coming to the hospital. Back in the ER I was given a pen and paper and followed one of the nurses around as she gave some of the wounded a painkiller and I took down their names for the records later. As it turned out most of the injured where walking wounded - only one, a pregnant woman, was hurt badly enough to be admitted.
11/10/11 and 12/10/11
On Tuesday I was shown how to insert a urethral catheter into a man's penis then was allowed to perform the same procedure myself! That is my very first patient! Apparently the hospital have many men come in with enlarge prostates who have catheters which get blocked; as their bladders get distended this is considered an emergency so they get seen quickly in ER.
On the Wednesday there was a young boy who came in as a transfer from the University of the West Indies Hospital (UWIH). The boy had been knocked of his bike at midnight the day before but because he didn't have health insurance he had to be transferred to KPH. When he arrived the boy was in a bad state; unconscious but still able to breathe on his own, he had a compressed cranial fracture and there was blood putting pressure on his brain. The consultants or senior residents from general surgery and neurology came down to see the boy and his injuries, however while they were down there the boy went into cardiac failure. CPR was started and an air bag was put over the boys mouth so that his breathing could be controlled by one of the doctors or nurses. After two shots of adrenaline and seven minutes of CPR the boy's heart started to beat again and he began to breathe. The boy was later taken to the surgery ward so that the pressure could be relieved from his brain and his broken leg set.
On the Wednesday there was a young boy who came in as a transfer from the University of the West Indies Hospital (UWIH). The boy had been knocked of his bike at midnight the day before but because he didn't have health insurance he had to be transferred to KPH. When he arrived the boy was in a bad state; unconscious but still able to breathe on his own, he had a compressed cranial fracture and there was blood putting pressure on his brain. The consultants or senior residents from general surgery and neurology came down to see the boy and his injuries, however while they were down there the boy went into cardiac failure. CPR was started and an air bag was put over the boys mouth so that his breathing could be controlled by one of the doctors or nurses. After two shots of adrenaline and seven minutes of CPR the boy's heart started to beat again and he began to breathe. The boy was later taken to the surgery ward so that the pressure could be relieved from his brain and his broken leg set.
10/10/11 - Second day in the ER
The start of my first proper day in ER was very exciting with an elderly woman coming in from a car crash and needed both her lower legs amputated! After that things slowed down a bit as I was given a more extensive tour of the ER. I watched the Drs perform several procedures before I was shown around the complicated filing system! There is no computer based system in Jamaica instead each patient is given an ID number according to when they first turned up at the hospital then each individual file is stored in one of two rooms. That sounds easy enough but the problem is that many of the files are missing or incomplete. Some even have the wrong name!
Sunday 9 October 2011
07/10/11 - ER
In the morning I met up with Nicki and went to wait for the SMO only to find out that both he and his secretary were on holiday. We were ready to go home very disappointed when Dr Wong told us to come and see him in ER. Feeling sure he would tell me it was impossible for me to work in the ER we went to see him and after a very short conversation he said, 'sure you can start now.' We stood staring at each other for a moment then Dr Wong introduced me to a young lady named Dr Reid who would look after me then he disappeared and a very happy Nicki went back home.
Dr Reid looked a little at a loss for what to do with me but at that moment a young man came in who had been stabbed in the hand and back. Dr Reid told me to come and watch while they ultrasounded his heart to see if the knife had punctured it. Luckily it hadn't but the man was making so much noise you would have thought he was dying, however once he was told he was fine and would be going to have an x-ray he stopped screaming and started playing on his phone! Later on an 18year old girl came in with a stab wound in her side, she was 5 months pregnant with her second baby and she was very scared. The doctor and the nurses spent most of the time dealing with her minor wounds singing and dancing around her. The Doctors and nurses were all really nice and didn't seem to mind me being there at all. I left about 2 o'clock and couldn't wait to go back Monday.
It was my housemate's birthday today so we went with her to one of hr workmates houses and had an amazing jamaican dinner and a wonderful chocolate mousse cake. Yummy!
Dr Reid looked a little at a loss for what to do with me but at that moment a young man came in who had been stabbed in the hand and back. Dr Reid told me to come and watch while they ultrasounded his heart to see if the knife had punctured it. Luckily it hadn't but the man was making so much noise you would have thought he was dying, however once he was told he was fine and would be going to have an x-ray he stopped screaming and started playing on his phone! Later on an 18year old girl came in with a stab wound in her side, she was 5 months pregnant with her second baby and she was very scared. The doctor and the nurses spent most of the time dealing with her minor wounds singing and dancing around her. The Doctors and nurses were all really nice and didn't seem to mind me being there at all. I left about 2 o'clock and couldn't wait to go back Monday.
It was my housemate's birthday today so we went with her to one of hr workmates houses and had an amazing jamaican dinner and a wonderful chocolate mousse cake. Yummy!
06/10/11 - Meeting Dr Wong
In the morning I received a phone call saying that my contact at KPH (Kingston Public Hospital) was going into ER later that day to find out when I could start and would I like to join her so we arranged to meet at 5. We decided to take the dog to the vets during the day so that he could have his heartworm injection, so while a housemate of mine was at the chiropractors I decided to take the dog for a walk at Hope Gardens in Kingston but as we drove through the gate I was stopped and told that I wasn't allowed to walk my dog in the park! So I decided to try Mona Reservoir which is by the University but I was told you could only walk there with a permit that you brought from the university and only very early in the morning or very late at night. So I ended up driving around Kingston with the dog in the backseat enjoying the air-conditioning until my housemate was finished that the chiropractor's! We then went to the vet and discovered that Arran is 4 years and 3 months old! He was very good as he was being given his injection and the vet was very happy with him :-)
We went back home quickly to drop the dog off and have a quick shower before I got ready to meet Nicki at KPH where we went to see Dr Wong in ER. I was quite disappointed by our first meeting, he was very negative about my chances of getting to work in the ER and was coming up with many trivial problems. He told us to go and see the Senior Medical Officer, Dr Boorasingh in the morning, so Nicki and I decided to meet up at 9 the following morning and hopefully get something sorted!
We went back home quickly to drop the dog off and have a quick shower before I got ready to meet Nicki at KPH where we went to see Dr Wong in ER. I was quite disappointed by our first meeting, he was very negative about my chances of getting to work in the ER and was coming up with many trivial problems. He told us to go and see the Senior Medical Officer, Dr Boorasingh in the morning, so Nicki and I decided to meet up at 9 the following morning and hopefully get something sorted!
05/10/11 - Spanish Day
Today I was ill again but I recovered so that I could go to the Spanish Day party in the Evening at the University of the West Indies. It was amazing; all the major Spanish Hotels across the island had produced food - from paella to sushi. They had flamenco dancers too and it was a really nice evening! I'm glad I could make it.
04/10/11 - Ill
Today I didn't feel very well so I couldn't go to Open Arms today. Hopefully I can go tomorrow!
03/10/11 - Tax and Unity
Today we had to go and get the car tax renewed there was a very long queue with only three cashiers when there could have been ten and in the middle of the busiest period one of the cashiers packed up and went away! Afterwards we went to PICA to get my stay in Jamaica extended, on the way we decided to buy a tennis racket so that we could throw the ball further for the dog but I discovered a shoe shop and brought a very nice pair of black stilettos and some trainers - but no tennis racket!
Then we walked over the road to PICA, we finally found the relevant department and waited. Eventually we were seen and the official asked 'you really want to extend your stay?' whilst looking at me incredulously. She then asked how old I was and when she discovered that I was over eighteen (which could have been determined by just looking at my passport) she told me it was impossible for me to extend my stay without having a letter signed by my employee; even though I'm not technically employed! So we went home.
We took the dog for a quick walk then got ready to go to the German Unity day party at the Pegasus hotel which was to celebrate the reunification of East and West Germany. The venue was right at the top of the Pegasus and the view across Kingston was amazing! Unfortunately the microphone wasn't working for the speeches or because the room was open the acoustics were awful but you had to be right at the front to here anything. Apart from that it was good fun!
Then we walked over the road to PICA, we finally found the relevant department and waited. Eventually we were seen and the official asked 'you really want to extend your stay?' whilst looking at me incredulously. She then asked how old I was and when she discovered that I was over eighteen (which could have been determined by just looking at my passport) she told me it was impossible for me to extend my stay without having a letter signed by my employee; even though I'm not technically employed! So we went home.
We took the dog for a quick walk then got ready to go to the German Unity day party at the Pegasus hotel which was to celebrate the reunification of East and West Germany. The venue was right at the top of the Pegasus and the view across Kingston was amazing! Unfortunately the microphone wasn't working for the speeches or because the room was open the acoustics were awful but you had to be right at the front to here anything. Apart from that it was good fun!
02/10/11 - Golf and Fish
Played golf today and took the dog around for the last nine but he kept barking every time a ball was hit and he wasn't allowed to chase after it! Never mind - it just put Karen off her game a bit! Afterwards we rushed off to Rodney's to have dinner with Armandine and Raphael; two people from the French Embassy. Armandine is the director of Alliance Francaise - the French lessons we go to, and she has been here about as long as I have but Raphael is leaving next Monday. Dinner was very nice as usual!
Sunday 2 October 2011
01/10/11 - More revision
The last few days haven't been very exciting! I've just been practicing for an exam I have to take tomorrow. Hopefully it will all go well!
29/09/11 - Nails and nothing exciting
I went to have a pedicure today as I spend most of the time walking around in sandals and don't want to inflict horrible feet on everyone!
28/09/11 - Homework
Spent the day at home doing my French homework - and its been a while since I've had to do any French homework! And also practiced some maths - especially percentages! We tried to go and see the Help at the cinema - we had looked yesterday at the listings and it said that the film was on, however when we looked again today that had taken it off! So instead we went to have a curry.
27/09/11 - Open Arms
Went to Open Arms again and after sitting in on the Staff Meeting I worked on the Staff Manual. I managed to finish a large chunk today so hopefully by next week I will have finished completely!
This evening I went to French again and had Jerk afterwards
This evening I went to French again and had Jerk afterwards
26/09/11 - RISE
Today I went of to visit RISE (Reaching Individuals through Skills and Education) which is an NGO that has been running over twenty years and covers a huge scope of activities from recycling to treatment of gambling and drugs addictions. Compared to Hear the Children's Cry and Open Arms, RISE is a huge and very well established organisation. I went o look around with their financial director with an eye to work with them later on. The organisation was very, very impressive and it gives me an idea of what the others might look like in a couple of decades time.
I have also heard that an internship might be opening up in the ER of Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) which would be amazing if I could get it!
I have also heard that an internship might be opening up in the ER of Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) which would be amazing if I could get it!
23/09/11 - Human Trafficking Conference; Day 2
We attended the conference again to hear a resume of the previous day. They had many really good ideas and if everything can be implemented then Jamaica will do much to improve its current record on Human Trafficking (which with no convictions to date is pretty poor).
During the conference one of the police officers had read a newsletter from Hear the Children's Cry an attacked us because we had said that 20% of missing children might have been trafficked. He thought that we were saying that the missing children were being trafficked and that we had evidence for this that we weren't sharing with the police. Seeing as all our information came from the police in the fist place he didn't really have much of an argument!
During the conference one of the police officers had read a newsletter from Hear the Children's Cry an attacked us because we had said that 20% of missing children might have been trafficked. He thought that we were saying that the missing children were being trafficked and that we had evidence for this that we weren't sharing with the police. Seeing as all our information came from the police in the fist place he didn't really have much of an argument!
22/09/11 - Trafficking Conference
Woke up bright and early today to take Arran for a walk, we used the remnants of his broken lead around a lanyard, but unfortunately Arran seems to clever for that and he managed to escape a couple of times! Unfortunately the lead broke again and Arran was free! He galloped around the green and discovered sprinklers - he tried to chase the water as it came out of the sprinkler and and had to visit all four sprinklers before he came away! On another green Arran did exactly the same, but one of the green keepers turned it off as he was drinking it and as we walked back we were determined to buy him a decent lead and collar! But at least Arran enjoyed his walk!
I had to attend a Human Trafficking Conference at the Pegasus Hotel for Hear the Children's Cry which is a charity that helps missing children in Jamaica. We were told that the conference was from 8.30 to 10.30 but when we arrived we discovered it was actually a two day workshop! It was a very interesting workshop, involving many different organisations (both NGO and governmental) as well as many different embassies.
That evening I had my French lesson again and I had to do a presentation on life in 1905. It wasn't very long - only 100 words, but it went quite well. Later that evening I was invited into the French embassy as a friend was receiving the Medal of Honour for his work in Haiti and France. That evening we went to a bar at Devon House for something to eat!
I had to attend a Human Trafficking Conference at the Pegasus Hotel for Hear the Children's Cry which is a charity that helps missing children in Jamaica. We were told that the conference was from 8.30 to 10.30 but when we arrived we discovered it was actually a two day workshop! It was a very interesting workshop, involving many different organisations (both NGO and governmental) as well as many different embassies.
That evening I had my French lesson again and I had to do a presentation on life in 1905. It wasn't very long - only 100 words, but it went quite well. Later that evening I was invited into the French embassy as a friend was receiving the Medal of Honour for his work in Haiti and France. That evening we went to a bar at Devon House for something to eat!
Wednesday 28 September 2011
21/09/11 - Dog Day
When we got back home we considered some new names - eventually we narrowed it down to three; Arran, Harris and Lewis all of which are Scottish islands. He responded best to Arran, and as it was the name that got the most votes we decided to call him Arran!
20/09/11
I went to Open Arms today and worked again on the Staff Manual; hopefully it should only take a couple more weeks. I had a brief talk with some of the clients about computers but there is a lot to put in the manual so I had to return to that quickly!
Later I went to my first French lesson since leaving school; I did french A level but it seems that I have forgotten everything as I couldn't even manage the past tense! After French I went to have some jerk pork and lamb at a jerk hut; jerk is a spicy marinade that the Jamaicans love to put on everything from chicken to fish. The meat is then barbecued and chopped up into pieces. It is delicious, but the sauce they put with it is very, very spicy! At the Jerk centre I got a call from the husband of the Spanish Ambassador saying that they wanted to get rid of their dog, a black Labrador, after a brief discussion with my housemates we decided to adopt it. Next January they leave Jamaica but head to France and will take the dog with them; so we arranged to pick the dog up tomorrow!
Later I went to my first French lesson since leaving school; I did french A level but it seems that I have forgotten everything as I couldn't even manage the past tense! After French I went to have some jerk pork and lamb at a jerk hut; jerk is a spicy marinade that the Jamaicans love to put on everything from chicken to fish. The meat is then barbecued and chopped up into pieces. It is delicious, but the sauce they put with it is very, very spicy! At the Jerk centre I got a call from the husband of the Spanish Ambassador saying that they wanted to get rid of their dog, a black Labrador, after a brief discussion with my housemates we decided to adopt it. Next January they leave Jamaica but head to France and will take the dog with them; so we arranged to pick the dog up tomorrow!
19/09/11 - Goodbye
One of my housemates returned home today to continue his studies at Kent University in England, we went to TGI Fridays before he flew back. I had chicken strips which were really nice. I also entered my application for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) today just in case my medicine application doesn't go as planned!
Friday 16 September 2011
17/09/11 - Shopping
Today I just did a bit of food shopping in Kingston stopping for lunch at a sandwich shop called Cannonball and later having an ice cream at Haagen Dazs (for my housemate as a bribe to come shopping of course!) Later my housemate made tablet fudge which made a perfect end to the day as we watched The Shining - although the men were all too scared and disappeared off to do other things!
14/09/11 - Three in a Buggy
Another day of golf, only today I did not play so well. I played with two of my housemates but only one managed a decent score. All three of us tried to fit into one buggy but three bags didn't fit on the back so we had to split one set of clubs between the other two bags; driving around the course with one of us hanging on for dear life was very funny! I blame my bad score on the mosquitoes which were buzzing around everywhere! In the evening we went to the Deputy High Commissioners house to see a puppy they had recently rescued - it was so adorable, it frolicked around everywhere and was very possessive over its tennis ball! We then went and had an Indian, at a restaurant called Tamarind, which was absolutely delicious - they had the best Naan breads I've ever had!
13/09/11 - Open Arms
I was back at Open Arms today and to begin with we had a staff meeting which involved talking about everything from funding and washing machines to some of the residents. One in particular was called in as he had not yet made an effort to find a job or get help in writing his CV. He is the first openly homosexual Jamaican I have seen on the island. The staff meeting lasted three hours though much of it was spent taking long breaks in which they went of onto rambling tangents, but never mind!
Finally the meeting ended and I accompanied Mrs Grant down to the residential area where they were building a new kitchen and canteen with money donated by the British High Commission, unfortunately the builders they hired were unreliable and already the kitchen was a month behind schedule - although now it was almost all completed, however the builders had recently installed a toilet for the canteen but placed it directly opposite the door so there would be no privacy much to Mrs Grant's anger. We spent a while coming up with new ideas and in the end it was decided that an L-shaped screen around the door would be the best choice. I then helped Mrs Grant carry out a daily inspection of the living quarters to make sure that all the residence were keeping their areas tidy and that there were no maintenance problems.
Mrs Grant then asked me to compile a staff handbook which could be given to each member of staff, she had only the briefest notes on what each member of staff did and codes of conduct then I had to do the rest. This project is still ongoing as it was getting late when I left, on the drive back I managed to get a huge downpour of rain but aty least I was inside the car!
Finally the meeting ended and I accompanied Mrs Grant down to the residential area where they were building a new kitchen and canteen with money donated by the British High Commission, unfortunately the builders they hired were unreliable and already the kitchen was a month behind schedule - although now it was almost all completed, however the builders had recently installed a toilet for the canteen but placed it directly opposite the door so there would be no privacy much to Mrs Grant's anger. We spent a while coming up with new ideas and in the end it was decided that an L-shaped screen around the door would be the best choice. I then helped Mrs Grant carry out a daily inspection of the living quarters to make sure that all the residence were keeping their areas tidy and that there were no maintenance problems.
Mrs Grant then asked me to compile a staff handbook which could be given to each member of staff, she had only the briefest notes on what each member of staff did and codes of conduct then I had to do the rest. This project is still ongoing as it was getting late when I left, on the drive back I managed to get a huge downpour of rain but aty least I was inside the car!
12/09/11 - More Golf
Golf is becoming a habit now! I played again with Jo and one of my housemates and my front nine was really good, but by the time we reached the 14th hole the rain had set in. It was so bad that by the 16th we couldn't even see the green from halfway down the hole and the ground was becoming flooded, so we all picked up our balls and squelched home, on the way home my housemate went flying over a pot hole and managed to break the chassis on the golf cart. Oh well - hopefully we'll have better luck next time!
Sunday 11 September 2011
10/09/11 - Golf and Fish
Today I played golf with Jo again but we were also joined by Karen, who also works for the High Commission and Annette an ex-pat. I played to my handicap today which I was pleased with - despite losing three balls, and I almost birdied the seventh too which would have made my week; but it was fun none the less. We kept track of the tennis and were unsurprised when Djokovic beat Federer. After golf we went to have dinner at a restaurant called Rodney's which serves fish. You go up into the shop and choose your snapper, they then ask you how you want it cooked - roasted, steamed, fried or escovitched (which is fried with onions, scotch bonnets and a special sauce). I had my snapper escovitched, normally they serve the fish with chips but they had run out today so instead we were given festival bread which is more like a long doughnut than bread and is normally served with Jamaican jerk food. The restaurant itself is right on the sea opposite Morgan's Harbour and the airport. Looking over the harbour was lovely once the sun had set as Kingston seemed to sparkle with all its lights flickering and the sound of the waves was very relaxing. It is nice being by the see as there is a lovely cool breeze that comes off it - and the fish was wonderful; just a shame that Murray lost to Nadal.
I will definitely be going to Rodney's again!
09/09/11 - Rugby World Cup Day
For some mad reason I have agreed to get up at 2.30 in the morning with one of my housemates to watch the opening ceremony of the rugby world cup and the first game - New Zealand against Tonga. We even set a reminder in the TV which promised it would show the game. However as we turned the TV on we were greeted by FIFA beech foot world cup in Italy! Needless to say we were not impressed. My housemate tried to watch the game on the internet but the channel did not stream fast enough. I went back to sleep.
Tonight I have been invited to the Residence of the Spanish Ambassador; this time we did get to see the game of Scotland playing Romania and the game itself was nerve racking with Scotland putting us on edge as usual before finally pulling off a win - my father will be pleased as he is Scottish. The Spanish Residence seems an odd choice to watch rugby from but the Spanish Ambassador is married to a South African who is fanatical about both rugby and golf. We were watching the game in a large veranda which had two massive, ornate chandeliers in the ceiling and two wide screen televisions! The food was amazing as they had a whole Serrano ham ready for us and some delicious pork. We were not the only ones there of course; the Russian and French Ambassadors were also present as was the Canadian High Commissioner and the British Deputy High Commissioner as well as a few other ex-pats and Jamaicans; a good few of whom where Scottish too!
The evening was great fun but hoepfull England are a touch more convincing!
08/09/11 - A day of Golf
I decided whilst I was in Jamaica that I would take up golf again; I used to play a lot a few years ago but now my handicap is as high as possible. Today I have decided to play with Jo whose husband is the British Deputy High Commissioner and plays to a similar standard as me. We are playing at Caymanas Golf and Country club high up in the hills above Kingston which is normally cooler and windier than the city itself. The views from the golf course are spectacular as you can see right across the city to the harbour, from up here Kingston looks idyllic. Whilst we are walking around Jo mentions that she had rescued a nine week old puppy from the streets and taken it to the vets where it had spent the last few days on a drip, the puppy is now back at home with Jo but looking for a new family; may be I can persuade the people I'm staying with that they need a little puppy! On the twelfth hole I renamed Jo - Woody, as she hit a tree on every shot she took until she finally reached the green!
The weather, as might be expected in the Caribbean, is very hot and because it is the summer here it is also quite muggy and as a result there are mosquitoes about everywhere - unfortunately I appear to be a delicacy and have been eaten alive. I managed to score one under my handicap which I was very pleased with - hopefully I will just keep improving!
The weather, as might be expected in the Caribbean, is very hot and because it is the summer here it is also quite muggy and as a result there are mosquitoes about everywhere - unfortunately I appear to be a delicacy and have been eaten alive. I managed to score one under my handicap which I was very pleased with - hopefully I will just keep improving!
Wednesday 7 September 2011
7/09/2011 - Second day at Open Arms
After several phone calls to Mrs Grant this morning to check that she would be there to see me this time, and after repeatedly being told that Mrs Grant wasn't in yet but was on her way I took the plunge and decided to make my way to Open Arms anyway. The journey there was surprisingly uneventful - we were only cut up by taxis twice, and finally I arrived at Open Arms to find that Mrs Grant was in her office complaining about the internet connection. She apologised for not being there yesterday as she was in a meeting with members of the British High Commission and others discussing Open Arms; she said they hold these meetings once every quarter and that I could go with her to the next one. She started to explain that she was very busy when the door opened again admitting the man who was there to fix the internet, Mrs Grant then started to tell me about the HIV and Drugs testing that was going on in the main room at that moment when another volunteer popped her head around the door smiling widely. Mrs Grant spoke to her for a moment while I read the long list of rules that each resident had to abide by, then the other volunteer was gone and Mrs Grant turned back to me saying in a low whisper, 'we've been having a bit of trouble with one of the residents.' Apparently money had been going missing and one man had been named the culprit, Mrs Grant was waiting for his return from the doctors before she asked him for his side of the story. 'But this doesn't happen often,' she assured me after explain how this man had been seen rooting through the belongings of one of the other residents, 'we often have personality clashes but not stealing.' The man who was fixing the internet announced that there was nothing wrong with it, Mrs Grant just shrugged as she stood and ushered me out of the office. In the main room the woman who was carrying out the HIV and Drugs tests announced that she was getting new internet at home and wanted to know which network was best. Mrs Grant's receptionist Lucy told us that LIME was the best in the ghettos as they were too scared to cut off the houses downtown. Apparently the charity hasn't paid their bill for months. Mrs Grant then passed me off to the other volunteer, Mrs Collin, who was just about to start an assessment of a new resident. The two of us took our seats against a wall and waited for the man to appear; he had just washed and changed into new clothes provided by the charity and had his hair cut then he sat in the chair opposite. He stared listlessly ahead of him without barely giving either of us a look, the charity's psychiatric nurse joined us too and Mrs Collin started the assessment. She started by asking him simple questions such as his name and date of birth - although I was told that in Jamaica this question is not so simple as many people don't know when they were born! Then she moved onto the harder question asking why he was homeless and how long he had been homeless for. The man, Mr J (33), used to live with is mother, elder half-brother, twin and younger brother in a big house in Kingston which was owned by the elder brother then one day he turned around and told the three younger brothers that they couldn't live with him any more. Mr J had once had a job in a supermarket packing shopping but he had lost that and was reduced to living on the streets where he had been for a year, he had no idea where his brothers were or whether they were even alive and yet despite being homeless he still had a top model mobile phone that he checked continuously throughout his interview. He admitted that he had depression and that he had been taking medication for it but denied any other medical or mental conditions. At first he denied taking any drugs at all but it was obvious that he was lying, from the first he had appeared nervous about something. Mrs Collins had to assure him twice that no matter what he admitted to taking they would not involve the police; the Charity needed to know encase something happened to Mr J and he needed treatment. Eventually he admitted to drinking alcohol and taking ganja since he was fifteen and that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Mrs Collins and the nurse immediately told him that the alcohol and drugs would just make his depression and schizophrenia worse but Mr J had once again zoned out. The nurse managed to get him to describe his drugs to her and she named them all, jotting each name down so that she could pick up a prescription for him later. Mr J then went to join the other residents while I helped Mr Collins cook lunch.
The Charity normally has its own cook; they provide three hot meals a day for roughly a hundred people, and the cook is helped by one of the residents but today the cook was ill so Mrs Collins and I helped out. The rice was already done, a staple of any Jamaican meal, so we were left to cook the mackerel stew. The mackerel itself was tinned in tomato sauce and the mixed vegetables were tinned too so all we had to do was heat them up in a large pan, crushing the mackerel into flakes and adding the cooked vegetables and water.
By then it was time for me to go, the woman driving me was waiting outside, as I got in the car she told me that on the way she had been driving behind a taxi, the taxi had pulled over and let out its passengers when another car pulled up beside him and as they started to argue the second man pulled a gun, threatening the taxi driver. By the time my driver had managed to get her phone out to call the police the two men had raced off, she said she was lucky she had not been directly behind them. After that the drive back home was thankfully uneventful!
When I did arrive back home I found four men crawling around the house fixing the plumbing and taking the doors off the kitchen cupboards. The men were asked when the cupboards would be returned and their reply - 'Friday, or at the latest Monday,' I was assured, but which Friday or Monday I do not know.
True Jamaicans know that 'soon come' means anything but!
The Charity normally has its own cook; they provide three hot meals a day for roughly a hundred people, and the cook is helped by one of the residents but today the cook was ill so Mrs Collins and I helped out. The rice was already done, a staple of any Jamaican meal, so we were left to cook the mackerel stew. The mackerel itself was tinned in tomato sauce and the mixed vegetables were tinned too so all we had to do was heat them up in a large pan, crushing the mackerel into flakes and adding the cooked vegetables and water.
By then it was time for me to go, the woman driving me was waiting outside, as I got in the car she told me that on the way she had been driving behind a taxi, the taxi had pulled over and let out its passengers when another car pulled up beside him and as they started to argue the second man pulled a gun, threatening the taxi driver. By the time my driver had managed to get her phone out to call the police the two men had raced off, she said she was lucky she had not been directly behind them. After that the drive back home was thankfully uneventful!
When I did arrive back home I found four men crawling around the house fixing the plumbing and taking the doors off the kitchen cupboards. The men were asked when the cupboards would be returned and their reply - 'Friday, or at the latest Monday,' I was assured, but which Friday or Monday I do not know.
True Jamaicans know that 'soon come' means anything but!
Tuesday 6 September 2011
06/09/2011 - First Day at Open Arms
Ok; so a few weeks ago a Dr I know in Jamaica set me up with a charity called Open Arms which is a walk-in centre for homeless people with mental difficulties. They also have a residential centre for about 100 men hoping to reintroduce them into society by teaching them not only maths and English but also social graces and general etiquette. It is an amazing charity run by a Jamaican woman named Mrs Grant who used to work in London as a Nurse, she has helped reintroduce several people into Jamaican society - one has even gone on to become a teacher! We arranged for me to come on the first Tuesday in September; so I turned up this morning - risking life and limb to navigate through the pot holes and broken roads of Jamaica's capital, only to find that Mrs Grant was in a meeting all day and that they couldn't see me until tomorrow!
Oh well; as I have often been told - this is Jamaica and everything is done at leisure, to be honest you can understand why once you get here but hopefully tomorrow will be a better start for me!
Oh well; as I have often been told - this is Jamaica and everything is done at leisure, to be honest you can understand why once you get here but hopefully tomorrow will be a better start for me!
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