Expect the Unexpected

I thought the last day here would be busy, but I never expected anything quite like this. I shouldn’t be surprised. Every year I have some new experience that just can’t be predicted.

The morning was moving along nicely, with a light breakfast and prep for my last class at 10:30am at Khnar Tmei. The students there wanted one more day of review and training on how to program in Alice. I can’t blame them, since learning how to program is a lot more than just figuring out code. It’s a way of approaching and solving problems.

One of the students, Toni, was late to arrive. He has had trouble being able to make it to class since he has both a full time job and school at the University. He’s a sharp student, and I could see that he was a bit sad to miss class.

As I’m wrapping up the lesson, he got a call on his cell phone. Someone at his house just got electrocuted and they wanted him to come back to help. He ran out of the building to head home. I said my farewells to the other students, got a picture with them in front of the PC, and packed up. I said to Prem (my driver), “We should go over there and see if we can help.”

The house is only about 50 yards away, and we could see the commotion from the school. As we got closer, it was apparent that there were power lines down. They must have been trying to fix something or move the lines. Many of them are held up by trees or thin sticks, so it’s not totally unusual to see one sagging a bit. Toni was busy putting a patch over one of the lines with tape as a way to prevent future shocks. I asked who got hurt, and they said it was Toni’s 60 something father, who was lying on a covered wooden bench area.

His breathing was steady and I could see his heartbeat was also steady. I’m not a doctor, but I was the closest thing they had at the moment. Since he was just unconscious, but burned pretty well on his hand and breathing ok, I asked a few questions. “Was he on the ground or on a ladder?” “Did he touch with both hands or one?” “Has he said anything since he got hurt?”

The answers told me that he was knocked out pretty well, but at least didn’t fall and break something. He also never stopped breathing, and hasn’t said much.

I told them we needed to get him to a hospital to make sure he was ok. This isn’t the kind of problem that you just recover from without help, and you want to make sure it doesn’t get worse. They agreed, so I said that we should use Prem’s car to transport him. They were quite thankful since the only option they had was motorbike. It would have been a driver, Toni’s father in the middle, and someone on the back to hold him up. Not a good situation.

Now from here you might think that the story is routine. “You just drove to the hospital, right?” Nope. We first drove to a pharmacy. Yes, a pharmacy. Apparently this is a place that Toni’s mother goes to on a regular basis and they have a doctor there. However, they didn’t have the means to treat electrocution and also didn’t want to take a patient that might not have a good outcome. Yes, they were worried about their reputation before the health of the patient.

I was not happy.

Next, we drove to a local, private clinic for Cambodian people. Instead of getting Toni’s father out and back in the car again (like we did at the pharmacy), they checked to see if they would take him. Same story. No treatment for electrocution and fear that someone might die in their clinic, harming their reputation.

I was REALLY not happy.

Before this, the car ride had been quiet. I wasn’t going to have it anymore. “Prem, where are we going next? We are NOT going to another clinic or pharmacy. I know of at least 3 real hospitals around here.”

Prem wasn’t happy either. “No problem, we are going to the provincial hospital, by the old market. I know they can treat him there.”

As we pulled in, he started to vomit a bit. I guess he had asked quietly for a small sip of water and they obliged. Not sure if that was the cause or not, but at least we were 10 feet from the emergency entrance when he did. I got out of the car and said “Please!” in the Cambodian language to get their attention, and before I knew it they had him in a room and on a bed.

The doctor quickly evaluated him, hooked him to oxygen and IV fluids, and I gave the little bit of detail that I knew about the incident. He was quite fluent in English and happy to have the bits of info I got when we first arrived. He also started to get a bit chatty and asked about how I was and what I did in Cambodia, but his focus was on the patient. About damn time.

The doctor said the prognosis is good, but with electrocution you really have to watch the patient for a few hours to make sure nothing major has happened. If he recovered well he could even be out by the afternoon. Before I left Toni’s father was already responding quietly to a few questions. Toni himself was rather shaken up, and was thoughtful enough to ask if I might miss my flight. I told him that was the least of his concerns, and No, it wasn’t for a long time. I would have said that even if it was in an hour.

The rest of the day would be considered more typical I guess. We had amazing food, packed bags, and looked around a bit. I can’t quite shake the feeling that I might need to focus on a few different things next year, like working with the government to put some big blue H signs around the outskirts of town, and seeing about healthcare education for people. After all, during a major health problem, you don’t have time to figure this kind of thing out. “What’s bad enough to necessitate going to the Hospital versus going to a clinic?” is something you learn before a problem happens, not by driving around town.

I’m also rather pissed at the clinics. I need to stew on that one a bit more.

UPDATE: I called Toni this afternoon and found out his father is doing fine and already home.

I'm still pissed at the clinics.