An emergency C-section calls the team from Bakersfield to surgery in the middle of the night. Dr. Jason Lore was the doctor on call. "When I saw her in the emergency room her clothes were completely soaked with blood and we knew that something was wrong. We weren't able to find the heart sounds of the baby inside the belly we couldn't hear anything."
The patient was four weeks away from her delivery date. "When we went in for the operation the baby was breech and when the baby was pulled out there was a little bit of motion. We found a large amount of blood in the placenta that was what caused her bleeding, but, a few minutes later I heard the baby crying right behind me and I knew that this baby was going to be ok."
"I don't know the actual name to name him. I am thinking Miracle... for now I am calling him Miracle," says the newborn's father Felix Akong.
Just one of the many miracles and moments that many doctors and nurses met while on this whirlwind journey to West Africa. The team from San Joaquin Community Hospital came to this part of the world for an eye opening experience. Many were sad to leave after assimilating with the different cultures and interacting with different tribes.
In five days over a thousand patients were seen and treated. From the quiet, tiny remote villages in the jungles of Nigeria, to the volatile outbursts from long lines of people desperate and impatient in the big city, the encounters and experiences have been unlike anything this team of medical professionals has ever seen.
"One of my best experiences was the kids," said nurse Tammy Zamora. "I brought soccer balls for the children and just getting to see their faces. It was amazing in their eyes you could see... just a football I never imagined."
"I want to come back. I want help these people and I feel like there's so many. I want to help all of them," said nurse Leslie Knapp.
With the team just hours away from coming home to Kern county, a final service at the compound brings most staff members and nursing school students together to say goodbye. A chance for Nigerians to thank the team for their work in West Africa. Never knowing it was the team who needed to thank them.
"We've dealt with so many people this week who haven't had the opportunity to have medical care, so it has been extremely rewarding, probably the best thing i've ever done," said nurse Janelle Gunther.
As a thank you, we are honored with a hand carved wooden plaque to remember this vibrant, colorful, complex, and desperate nation. A place filled with hope and despair, life and death.
"You always think about could we have done more could we have squeezed more in," said San Joaquin Vice President Jarrod McNaughton. "Could we have helped more people? That for me is always the hardest part about going home is could we have done more to actually help improve the health of the people here? With that said I think we've done an amazing amount and it's not only blessed the people of Nigeria but, it's really blessed our team as well."
The members of this team from San Joaquin Community Hospital in Bakersfield realize that being a part of a global medical mission is more than just an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. It's a recognition of why they do what they do and an experience that will make them better for their patients here at home.
