Local doctor performs nearly 500 "hug screenings" in Uganda

Imagine a country the size of Oregon with nearly 40 million residents. Now, imagine half of them are 16 years of age or younger, few have ever received medical care for any reason and most of the care given was without the aid of electricity.

That is what Dr. James Broomfield encountered on his recent trip to Uganda, where he traveled as part of a medical mission.

"There is really no health care of any appreciable amount in the northern part of Uganda," he said.

This trip was not the first of its kind for Broomfield in many ways, but it was his first opportunity to be a part of a medical mission with his wife, Sarah.

Sarah is an EMT with experience in military hospitals in Germany and the United States. She has returned to school to receive training in psychology.

"She is the voice of reason and common sense," Broomfield said. "She was the one who pulled us to the middle and focused us. She is that person."

Though Broomfield has made similar trips prior to the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 to Nepal, Chile and Pakistan, this time the couple spent two weeks, from June 20 to July 03, with a team of eight others from the Cheyenne Hills Church.

"Cheyenne Hills built a school there, and they have over 500 students," he said. "Uganda's average age is 16, there are not a lot of adults. Because they don't have parents, education is poor."

Broomfield added that many churches have built, and operate, schools in the African country. The school built in Uganda by Cheyenne Hills was the home-base for the group's recent medical mission.

"There was about 500 kids there, I got to hug every one of them," he said. "We had to check to see if they are febrile and they don't have the thermometers to do that and the kids needed to go to school. That was the neatest thing in the world."

Primarily the group tested, vaccinated and treated patients for Hepatitus B, a preventable and treatable viral infection that attacks the liver.

Broomfield said that they also saw patients for diabetes, hypertension, Malaria, a variety of rashes and worms and that acute care was provided for those in dire need.

"We had a couple of kids that were near death that we resuscitated. They were so badly dehydrated that they couldn't open their eyes and they weren't responding," he said.

After administering intravenous fluids and medications, Broomfield said those children were up and playing again in no time.

"We saw about 1,260 patients that we made charts for. We saw patients for eight days," he added.

Those simple charts, handwritten on 3 x 5 index cards, would allow the same patients to be seen by other health care providers in the future.

"As far as the daily (rewards), I think just getting to take care of so many people, and not having to deal with electronic health records. My health record never crashed. I spent 10 or 15 minutes with every patient and I spent less than a minute charting for every patient," he said

Due to long-term political unrest and the mass slayings of Ugandan adults, there is no real medical care in the country according to Broomfield.

"The average income in that part of Uganda is about $150 US dollars equivalent per year," he added. "Even if they could afford health care it is not on their priority list."

While the group stayed in Lira, they rode a bus 28 kilometers, nearly 18 miles, from Lira each day to the school in Aloi, where they worked.

"The bus, it said on the door that it would hold 35 people, but it had ten seats," he said.

The biggest challenge for Dr. Broomfield and his group was remaining healthy while they were there. That included proper sleep, healthy meals and clean drinking water.

"It is 44 hours travel back to Cheyenne," he said. "So if somebody got sick they would be in a world of hurt."

Immunizations were taken prior to traveling overseas, their meals were made by someone who was informed of their dietary needs, and they purchased bottled water once they arrived.

"We ate a lot of rice and beans," he said. "The food was good. I did not lose any weight when I was over there, and I lost 10 pounds when I was in Nepal."

While the group traveled with 23 bags, each weighing approximately 50 pounds, on the airline, only six of those held personal items such as clothing. The remainder of the luggage included all the supplies they could stuff into each bag.

"Then, once we got there, we found a pharmacy that sold European medication that was safe," he said. "We were able to purchase medications from there. We had about $10,000 in donations."

The group took medications, first aid supplies and personal hygiene supplies with them from America.

There are a few medical professionals that can continue care and follow-up with additional vaccines.

Though the official language in Uganda is English, most people do not speak English as their primary language, according to Broomfield.

"We also had a group of people that were multilingual, that spoke not only English, but three and four other languages that were common in the area. So they were able to translate for us."

The biggest reward for Broomfield was sharing the experience with his wife, as this was the first trip they had shared.

He added how encouraging it was that he was able to recall things he had learned in medical school more than 20 years ago.

Broomfield, who said he gained as much, or more, from the trip as those he helped, encourages others to make similar trips.

"I have already given this talk to a bunch of physicians, and I am encouraging them. I bring up things like electronic records, insurance companies and the Affordable Care Act that have forced a lot of doctors to quit, or they are miserable in their jobs," he said. " I talk to them about the joy they will get to be able to do some things like this. This is what a lot of these guys trained for, thinking they would do instead of being a paper pusher."

Of the team that Broomfield accompanied, he said each worker gained valuable experience but also grew personally.

At times there were several hundred lied up to see the doctor, but they were triaged down to those who needed care.

"They were so team oriented. Five of us had medical experience, but five of us did not," he said. "One lady was deathly afraid of the sight of blood, even just the mere thought of having to see blood and she was woozy. She wound up being our triage person. She was amazing."

Broomfield said that the church has never done a medical mission, though they do three education missions annually.

"I think I got more out of it than the patients did," he concluded. "What an incredible honor to be able to go there. These people don't know me from Adam and definitely I stand out. Yet, they trusted me, welcomed me with open arms. Somebody said, 'He's the doctor.' and there were 200 people lined up to see me all of a sudden."

While Broomfield and his wife definitely plan to return, they will take some time before they do that. Beyond the cost of immunizations and travel, he explained that it took a month to return to a normal sleep schedule once he returned.

The time they take before the next trip will also allow Broomfield to process all that he learned about himself from this latest trip.

"It was very rewarding. I am still processing the information that I gleaned of myself. It will probably take a year to process," he said.