Mohamed Koroma (33) was rushed into our hospital after a severe road traffic accident. He was sent to Yele all the way from Makeni, more than 1,5 hours away. He lost a lot of blood and by the time he reached LHMC he was in shock. We were able to save his life by taking very quick action and rushing him to the operation theatre for surgery.
It was a very challenging emergency case. Multiple complex fractures in Mohammed’s leg wouldn’t stop bleeding, making amputation the only way to save his life. ‘When a patient is in shock, every minute counts’, explains doctor Anne Snieder. ‘Simple interventions mean the difference between life and death, but to make these decisions you need information, you need to continuously monitor his vital signs.’
At the moment this is difficult. We don’t have the equipment to monitor the vital signs continuously. This means our nurses need to keep checking the blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen levels in the blood over and over again. Also, we didn’t have enough nurses to check the vital signs and prepare the operation theatre at the same time. The small, cramped treatment room added to the challenges.
More than six weeks later, Mohamed is doing much better! In total, he received 8 units of blood. The team performed surgery to fix the fractures in his other leg and by now he is practising to walk. But this case highlights the urgent need for improvements in our acute care capabilities. While we managed to provide life-saving care, we faced several limitations, mainly because of a lack of resources. Please consider a donation to our crowdfunding, below. Your support is vital in helping us improve acute care in our hospital and save more lives!