The Student Perspective - Colleen Drasga

A lot of times when people go to dramatically foreign places, at the end of their stay they say “Its very different, but still very much the same.” After four weeks here, I would agree with the first part. Everything here is different, the hospital, the smells, the transportation, the dancing, even the milk is different. Differences aside, my stay in Kenya has been unbelievable and I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to come here.
The experience has been both challenging and rewarding and nothing has embodied those two feelings more than rounding at the Nyayo wards. While I sift through the charts, track down missing treatment sheets, and request labs for the third straight day I switch from feeling like I’m really making a difference in patient care and feeling like I’m watching a car wreck that I’m powerless to stop. It’s very hard to see patients suffer day after day without the ability to fix the situation. So many problems could be solved if care here paralleled care back at home. That being said, good things are going on in the hospital and focusing on these makes each day more than worth while.
Some days the most I feel I do is ensure a patient gets fluids and check that their treatment sheet is present and accounted for. Other days, I’m part of making sure that a patient receives TB medications that mysteriously disappeared from the treatment sheet, starting a patient with a CD4 count of 5 on anti-retrovirals, getting needed chemotherapy or an emergency surgery consult. Needless to say, the latter days are more rewarding. Claiming that I was responsible for all of these interventions would be both selfish and disheartening. It is selfish because I my role in many of these situations is strictly the whistle blower, and disheartening because I’m leaving in two weeks.
Luckily the people who are truly responsible for the good that goes on are not transitional. Both Americans and Kenyans involved with AMPATH are so dedicated to improving health care in Eldoret. It is such an inspiration to be working with people who are here to make forward and lasting changes in Eldoret. While my future is anything but clear, I don’t see myself returning to Eldoret. However, I know that Eldoret will stay with me. The red dirt will wash off and the memories of the smells will recede but I hope that the call to action and the inspiration to change will stay with me.
I started this entry mentioning differences. The main difference is that I have been given the opportunity to see first hand the difference one person can make in other’s lives. I hope that when I go home, I can do that as well.

Written by Colleen Drasga,
PharmD candidate 2008
Purdue University School of Pharmacy

Adherence Counseling and the Buddy System

Today, we spent the afternoon at the Imani Workshop. The Imani Workshop is one of the many unique programs offered by the comprehensive HIV care approach utilized by AMPATH. The Imani Workshop provides income security to the HIV positive patients receiving care through AMPATH by employing them to make a wide variety of crafts that are sold all over the world. The pictures in this blog are of the actual warehouse where many of these products are made. Today, the pharmacy students and I went to the workshop to provide these patients with counseling and various teaching points about their medications and disease. As you can see the pharmacy students were quickly integrated into the group of patients as the patients/employees were all very eager to take advantage of this opportunity to ask our students about the intricacies of their medications. One of the other things the pictures illustrate is our Kenyan buddy system. To further enhance the collaboration that is present at every level of AMPATH, the Purdue pharmacy students have been paired up with Kenyan counterparts from the University of Nairobi, School of Pharmacy. This collaboration has allowed us to improve care for patients by combining the advanced knowledge of the Purdue pharmacy students and the hands on Kenyan experience of their counterparts from Nairobi. At the same time, the Purdue and Kenyan students are able to engage in a bilateral exchange of information as they attempt to address many of the patient issues they face on a daily basis. They currently collaborate on rounds, counseling, and topic discussion. One of the common themes throughout all of these blogs is that this is just the beginning and I fully expect that many great things will come from these simple collaborative partnerships. I look forward to seeing the impact the next generation of Purdue and Kenyan pharmacy students will have on patient care.

Julie Everett Nyongesa Pharmacy

On November 8, 2007 we celebrated the renaming of the Purdue Pharmacy to the Julie Everett Nyongesa Pharmacy. As you can see from the pictures, we celebrated this joyous occasion from the balcony of the AMPATH center with over 70 close colleagues and friends from AMPATH. The greatest part of this celebration for me was the speeches of Beatrice Jakait (AMPATH Pharmacy Department Head) and Joe Mamlin (AMPATH Co-Field Director). While I’ve always heard all about the great things Julie has done and all her contributions to the program, it was great to finally have the next generation of AMPATH members (including myself) take a moment to really reflect on how far this program has come because of her.
As we continue to watch the program grow from its humble roots, we will now have a constant reminder of where we came from whenever we look at the Julie Everett Nyongesa Pharmacy. The celebration was capitulated by the announcement from Joe that PEPFAR has decided that they will award us the $60 million grant that will allow AMPATH to continue to grow and serve patients. While I never met Julie and only exchanged one email with her, from all I’ve heard about her, I have a feeling there are very few things that would have made her happier than knowing the work she started will continue for many years to come through this $60 million grant.

My favorite picture, however, is of the new generation of the AMPATH Pharmacy staff happily filling the tackleboxes (started by Julie) under her smiling picture.