June 22

Spent all day today in the outpatient pharmacy. They are very fast and no-nonsense in the way that they fill prescriptions. Different than our procedures in pharmacies in the U.S., but in a way that is suitable to this situation. The hospital has about 270 beds and sees about 180 outpatients a day (most are walk-ins.....quite literally, as they may have walked 2 hours to get here).

Learned today that the staff is getting performance management objectives which tie to their job descriptions. So back in Memphis at UTMG, we are at least a half step ahead of Rwanda! Good validation for what we already knew we needed to do. Hey Sheri - I'm attaching a picture of myself wearing your skirt - thanks for the loan! The picture was taken in front of my apartment here.

The hospital managers are called "chefs", French for chiefs. So you might hear someone say, "I'm going to a meeting with the chefs." I try not to smile. A return appointment is called a "rendez-vous". And everyone refers to a medical record as a "fiche". Medical records are one of my projects, so when referring to me, people will say, "She is working on the fiche!"

I helped one of the staff, Safi, a bit with her English homework. I heard her tell one of the others that it was "dificil" so I offered to help. (English, at least, is a language that I speak.)

They had 2-3 H1N1 cases here last month, in one of the high schools. But it is not widespread.

One of the hospital managers is widely referred to as "the Secretary" (note the capital S). I was told, "oh, you should meet with the Secretary!" He is over medical records, the cashier area, bookkeeping, procurement, medical testimony, and several other areas. So I did request to meet with him, but I had to wait on a chair in the hallway for a little while until he was available. He is a busy man, as so many things in the hospital have to go through him. He told me that his name is Abraham. He is a slight man, thin, medium height, probably in his 30's, with a pencil moustache, and sharp facial features. He usually wears a long sleeved shirt buttoned up to the neck, but no tie (I have only seen one tie here so far.) I have trouble thinking of him as an "Abraham" - the name just does not fit him - and instead tend to refer to him as "the Secretary" like everyone else does. When I met with him, he was very serious and the answers to most of my questions were "non". But I have seen him play both the keyboard and electric guitar, as well as sing. This was both at morning devotions and at the big local Sunday church service. So I asked him about his music, and his face lit up. He told me that he put out a CD and video DVD with a local choir called the Alliance Choir. Also he said that he was going to put out a solo CD, as he composed his own music. I asked him if he was on amazon.com or iTunes yet, and he just smiled and laughed. However, I would not be surprised to see him there one day....