Palliative Care: Reaching the Elderly, Starving and Vunerable

Palliative Care:  Reaching the Elderly, Starving and Vunerable

There is no welfare or social safety net in Cameroon.  If you can’t grow your own food and you have no money, you are in danger of starving.  Accepting referrals from Dr. Pounguey, a retired doctor who, since 2011 has undertaken 21 consultations in the city of Bana.  He says sick people can be completely destitute.  So, it is through Dr. Pounguey and community people that IDF searches out these cases, does an assessment, keeps records and does what it can to give a little assistance to individuals and families in extreme poverty without income, often without food.    We visited four such situations to deliver a package consisting of a large bag of rice, 5 pounds of beans, five boxes of matches and five large cakes of soap.  Each package, about $20 Canadian, means everything to these individuals and families. 

The first man we visited lives alone and has no family.   He is visually impaired and hard of hearing but has a great sense of humour.  He thanked us for the rice, beans, soap and matches.  He wanted to carry it into his house by himself.  Without electricity and almost blind, this way he would know where to find things.  He is 83, has diabetes and has a lot of pain. Allan asked him if he cooks for himself.  He said yes, if no one brings him something already made!    

Travelling down a steep washed out road to the second situation, a young man was all over the road, arms flailing.  Oussematou called him a mad man.  She says that during dry season, many people become mad.  Right away I said malnutrition (B Vitamins in particular) further exaggerated by lack of food and water in the dry season. Most people live on fufu (corn) sometimes with huckleberry (dark green vegetable) or unenriched rice with beans. 

Each time we enter the real world of poverty, reality hits.  Dirt floors.  Cooking inside the one room house with no chimney.  Three rocks balancing a large pot over the fire.   All food preparation is done on the ground.  No table.  Usually small bamboo individual little stools.  Water carried in a pail or plastic container.  Dishes washed in cold dirty water.  It is good to know that it is possible to help, if only in a small way.

The second person, a widow still able to live in her home.  Traditiionally,  the husband’s family comes in to claim the family house.  IDF has followed this family for a long time.  The husband was a long term diabetic and as a result became unable to father children.  His wife had a baby by another man.  This caused much trouble.  But, it was she who nursed the diabetic husband through to his death.  We met him last trip.  At that time he was very emaciated and could barely walk.  Again, this family does not have a plot to grow food.  The rice and beans, matches and soap were much appreciated.  It was here that I was most concerned about a toddler (grandchild) playing around the open fire banging two small plastic pop bottles together.  His balance wasn’t great and he was wearing a flammable plastic covering over his diaper.  Not to mention the smoke inside the one room structure! 

By the third visit, it was very dark.  No electricity means light is dim or nonexistent.  This elderly man has a daughter who brings him food but again, he showed his appreciation abundantly.  We tried to visit a lady with seven children but she was not home.  

The next morning, the hotel said there was someone to see me.  I went down to find a lady I did not recognize who spoke only French.  I told her to wait and Oussemtou would come to help.  What a surprise.  Last year we met Odette, a woman with seven children whose self esteem was so low, she would not look at me and just seemed so lethargic.  At our farewell gathering, Oussematou brought her, dressed her in a new dress (didn’t help) and told us, you wait and see what happens as I work with her over the next year.  An issue at that time was another pregnancy.  Odette wanted another girl.    Oussematou encouraged her to not carry another pregnancy.  Methods are different here.  After much work, Oussematou was able to arrange an injection that will prevent pregnancy for five years.

So, Oussematou gave Odette a job.  To carry water and make rice and beans for a man who had no one.  One year later, here is Odette so capable of facing the camera to tell us she has been working some at the hotel, at the hospital cleaning.  Although Oussematou says Odette still has some mental issues, she is doing well. 

I have an excellent interview with Odette which I hope to share with you on utube. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKh9exoq5Bg&list=UUKLdLUrOXVJPkIJuTTJxaAQ