R E F L E C T I O N S F R O M O U R G R A N T E E S 
G H A N A:
“We left with the goal of setting up a medical clinic in the rural village of Buaben, outside of the city of Kumasi. As we boarded the plane to Accra, I felt nervous. This was no small undertaking. We set out to physically set up a medical clinic in West Africa, to gain the trust of an entire community and to hire staff for the clinic.
The patients had a great readiness to learn; they were very grateful to learn about their diseases and how they could manage certain conditions at home, for example, hypertension. Let me briefly elaborate here: Ghana is a producer of salt and as such, salt is readily available and overused in meals (confirmed by asking residents of Buaben and also first-hand experience). However, virtually none of the patients to whom I explained the relationship of salt and hypertension were aware of this connection. We had the opportunity to give a lecture via a radio show to the local populace, and we chose the topic of hypertension for this reason. I feel that we did (and will continue to) make a real impact on this patient population through patient education.
Overall, my educational experience in Ghana was invaluable: I learned far more than I expected to. I learned financial management of a medical clinic, the evaluation and treatment of patients without invasive measures or imaging, the importance of patient education, and much more, including the practice and value of international medicine. I cannot express how grateful I am to have received this opportunity to travel to Ghana and work on this clinic during my residency training through EMEDEX. I hope that other residents after me will have the opportunity to go to this same clinic and practice rural emergency medicine with a West African population, train the clinic doctors and nurses in cutting edge medical practices and participate in patient education."
-DR. SADIA HUSSAIN
“This is an area where there was no clinic before... When nothing else is around for 20 miles and cars are scarce we become a one stop shop for these people which can range from scheduled check ups to legitimate emergencies with few supplies.
Upon arrival to Accra, Ghana we took the 120 mile, 6 hour drive to Kumasi. In Kumasi we traveled to different areas of the community meeting people of the area and introducing ourselves. The people were interviewed by the group to try to see what patients want from their doctor and what they expected in their visits. From these interviews it was found that patients do not feel like the get enough time with their doctors and that physicians do not explain their disease process appropriately. Due to this they often do no take their medications appropriately or do not know what lifestyle modifications are needed. They also expressed the lack of preventative medicine practiced and that much of the time it is urgent care visits.”
-DR. MICHAEL RITCHIE
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