Blog
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New Blood Bank at the Duk Lost Boys Clinic
January 26, 2010
It happens all too often around the world, especially in underdeveloped countries: A patient suffers and too often dies because of a lack of something simple, something available in the wealthier countries but not for the rest of the world, a medicine, an instrument, equipment, or trained personnel. All too often health workers in these places can only look around and lament how they wished they had the abilities of nations with established health care. Thanks to worldwide efforts to reduce medical drug prices, develop medicines for neglected diseases, and raise money and support for impoverished nations, countless lives have been saved over the past decade. Unfortunately, these changes come little by little.
For the Duk Lost Boys Clinic, help came in the form of a Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) program to deliver complicated treatment for Tuberculosis, mosquito nets, a cold-chain supply to enable the delivery of vaccines, and an HIV/AIDS testing and counseling program. This spring, thanks to a generous gift by Sonosite Corporation’s Sound Caring program, the Clinic’s medical advisor, Dr. David Reed, will be delivering and training the staff in the use of ultrasound equipment.
Last November’s charter plane brought supplies for a blood bank, specifically meant for emergency, life-threatening cases such as postpartum hemorrhage and trauma. The package consisted of simple basics such as a water bath and centrifuge, and costs less than $2,000. It will save countless lives in the region.
A 23-year old mother came in recently from about 25 miles away. She had been vomiting for a week, and had severe anemia. She hadn’t recovered well enough yet from her recent pregnancy, and, combined with a limited diet, she was in serious condition. Her hemoglobin level was below the point at which many people die. The staff, most of whom have been trained in blood transfusion elsewhere, called a quick meeting and talked the issue over. They sent an aide out to collect the women’s relatives in order to find a donor. Several were screened and matched, and two people each donated a pint of blood. The next night, at around 10pm, the staff began the first blood transfusion ever in Duk County. The next nearest blood transfusion site is 93 miles away, and transporting her there would have surely been fatal given her condition.Abraham, one of the Clinic’s nurses, sat in the room with her the entire night. Her six-year old daughter waited at the foot of the bed and wandered the halls of the Clinic as her grandmother sang her baby brother to sleep in the next room.
By the next morning, her appearance hadn’t changed much, but her breathing and blood pressure had improved dramatically. The following afternoon, she finished the second and final transfusion and was recovering well with her children.
She or her daughter may never know everything that went in to providing the capability that saved her life, or how fortunate her timing was, but they know better than anyone the value it presented.
