Not another Fobbit

I know I have been seriously delinquent in updating my blog. Here it is already the 10^th of August. Wow, time flies when you’re having such fun. NOT!

My team has also picked up another mentoring job at another hospital here in Kabul, NDS Hospital. NDS stands for National Defense Service, which is similar to our CIA. I went to the hospital once last week and again today. It is a relatively new hospital. If it wasn’t for the signs in Dari, it could be any small, rural hospital in the US. It is a very nice facility. I will of course be mentoring the OR nurses. Last week, we went in the afternoon and there were no cases in the OR. I met the nurses and we began to build a working relationship. When I went back today, again there were no scheduled cases. All of the hospitals in Kabul have begun to cancel all elective cases. They want as many empty beds in the hospitals as possible for the elections next week. No one knows what will happen during the elections and it is better to be prepared with lots of empty beds in the hospitals.

On this past Saturday, I went to the US Embassy here in Kabul for a short conference. That is a nice piece of property here in Kabul. They even have an outdoor pool, but we did not go swimming. Hopefully, we schedule a little down time for a swim.

I continue to work with the OR nurses at NMH. One of the Nursing processes in all of the ANA is to work on 36 basic nursing competencies. On Monday’s, the nurses have training on one of the competencies. One of the OR nurses will attend the training, then train the other nurses on Thursday with my help. Once they have completed all 36 competencies, they receive a certificate from BG Razia, the Chief Nurse for the ANA. They are also trying to make a cash bonus for this program.

In the OR, we are working on developing surgical conscience, sterility, and how to clean instruments and the rooms after a case. This is inbetween trying to obtain supplies (medical & surgical consumables). My team doesn't have an Ortho Doc so I am trying to coordinate the ortho gear too. Always busy. Getting consumables requires a walk to the National Depot and hopefully they will have what we need. If they don't, then I contact local vendors to get quotes, then we write a contract. This takes at least 30 days to get the supplies. Nothing is quick in Afghanistan.

I read an interesting article this past week, "The 800 pound Gorilla: The Interrelationship of Culture, Economics and Security in Afghanistan."

http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2009/08/the-interrelationship-of-cultu/

It is a unique perspective. I hope you enjoy it.

Oh yeah, about the title of this post, Not another Fobbit. Military personnel who live and stay on the FOB (Forward Operating Base) and never go outside the wire, are called Fobbits. (This is what I was when I was in Iraq). I am lucky enough to get off of NKC everyday. When I walk up to NMH, that is considered going outside the wire. The OR nurses ask me often to go out in Kabul with them. I only wish it were that easy and safe. I would love to see Kabul from their perspective.

I will try to update the blog more often and with more pictures. We took pictures at NDS today, but it wasn't with my camera. When I get the pictures, I will [post them. The picture I posted today is my team and our humvees in the parking lot of NKC. We are missing 2 people, but we can never get all of us together for a photo...