Work

Man, I just realized that all I've talked about so far is eating and partying! Hopefully you're reading some other missionary blogs for some balance…

I actually do have work to do around here. The main purpose of my stay here in Chad is to introduce an Electronic Medical Record system here at Béré Adventist Hospital. The first step of the project was to build a LAN (local area network) at the hospital so that the EMR program can stay in sync on several computers in different buildings. Several people pitched in and we were able to get the network fully functioning by the end of the first week that I arrived.

The next part of the project is to teach the hospital staff how to use the system so that eventually we can transition to using computers instead of paper. This has been a challenge because none of the hospital staff have ever seen a computer before. Also, nobody speaks English…

After the staff are comfortable with the computers, it will be time to "go live", which means that we'll actually start using the system in the daily workflow. Dirk Wunderlich, the creator of the EMR, will come to Béré during the last two weeks of January to help out with this part of the project. Most likely we'll start out slow and only use the computers for prescribing medications. Over time, we hope to use the EMR for many more things like creating patient forms and progress notes, gathering data for statistics, managing inventory and cash flow, etc.

There's always lots of other work to be done around the hospital as well, especially in the realm of maintenance. Jamie Parker was the full-time maintenance guy for the last 5 years, but he returned home to the US just a few weeks after I arrived here in November. My friend Allah and I have been busy with lots of hands-on work like fixing cars and motorcycles, putting up new lights around the hospital, installing electrical outlets, etc. The latter involves lots of crawling around in hot, dark, rat-infested, bat-poop-filled attics that have really weak trusses.

Another project that I'm working on in my spare time is trying to get our own independent internet connection at the hospital. Right now the only way to use the internet is through the cell service around here, which is really super bad. Like 4 kbps on average. I think our best option will be a satellite connection, but before anything can happen we have to get a license from the Ministry of Communications in N'djamena. Olen tried in the past, but they said the yearly tax would be like $60,000 for a really lame connection speed. Desiré happens to be friends with one of technical directors (or something like that), so together we're working on getting a license for the hospital without such a heavy tax.

Also, the hospital got a few TVs on the last AHI container, so Allah and I are working on installing them in the patient waiting areas so that people have something to do while they wait. The idea is to improve communication with hospital guests, because right now this is very difficult since most people aren't literate. So printed materials are basically useless. Eventually we'll have the TVs hooked up to Apple TVs so that Olen can stream whatever he wants, like welcome/informational messages, health promotion videos, nature videos, etc.

So that's what keeps me busy around here. It's only been two months and I feel like we've already accomplished a ton of stuff! Thank you to everyone who contributed to my financial needs so that God can use me to bless His hospital here in Béré.