Adventures in Nursing...in Africa

by Carole Heath, SSU Nursing Department

In January, I went to Africa as a volunteer nurse for the Chidamoyo Mission Hospital in Zimbabwe. This was my first opportunity to experience nursing in an international setting.  The hospital is located five hours from the capital city of Harare in a remote area in the northeast corner of the country. I worked alongside Kathy McCarty, RN, MSN, who is the clinical officer for the 80-bed rural hospital. There are 35,000 subsistence farmers in the area who rely on the hospital as their only medical facility. Currently there is no doctor on staff and as a result, McCarty provides the medical care or refers clients to the hospital in Karoi, a one-and-one-half-hour drive away by dirt road.  If the client needs considerable treatment they are referred to the government-run hospital in Harare.

With the majority of the residents in the rural area of Chidamoyo Hospital having to walk long distances or travel by wooden carts pulled by oxen or donkeys, there is little reliable transportation to the area. The health care infrastructure in the country is not fluid and is often plagued with lack of resources. But, Chidamoyo Mission Hospital is run with ethics and a strong commitment of care headed by McCarty and her staff of nationals. Having worked at the hospital for 21 years in the role of clinical officer, she is resilient to the corruption and double-digit inflation that plagues the country. Mass exodus of trained staff to areas that pay higher salaries and the pilfering of meager resources, which are sold on the black market, contribute to inconsistent care at government-run hospitals. With an unemployment rate of 70%, it is often unlikely that families are able to afford the cost of fuel to transport their loved one to larger hospitals. 

The delivery rate alone is staggering for the small hospital, with 150 births a month.  McCarty, as an advanced practice nurse, is challenged with treating patients with a variety of injuries and illnesses and is on-call 24 hours a day to assist in breach births, and other emergencies. HIV disease has affected 40% of population in the country and contributes to a multitude of related illnesses such as tuberculosis, uncontrolled diarrhea, and failure to thrive in infants, which are common diagnoses for the in-patients. 

While dealing with these severe medical issues, patients with snake bites, broken bones, and skin infections add to the daily struggles of providing health care to the nationals.  I learned quickly that life and death decisions are made frequently in rural health care arenas and that it is intertwined with the many complex system-wide issues that are a constant in developing countries.

My experiences of working at Chidamoyo Christian Hospital and interacting with the people of Zimbabwe has impacted me deeply. I witnessed the strength of missions in supporting health care and been touched by the patient, compliant, and accepting people of Zimbabwe.

Above, SSU nursing professor Carole Heath at the Chidamoyo Mission Hospital in Zimbabwe