Dr. Janika Briegel
On assignment as a doctor in the Central African Republic
Name
Janika Briegel
Age
32 years old
Profession
Doctor - internal medicine / emergency medicine
Country of operation
Central African Republic
Duration of mission
7 months
My everyday life in the project
The day began daily at 7:30 in the morning with an early meeting, followed by rounds on all wards, after which we performed the scheduled ultrasound exams. One of our main tasks in the project was the planning and implementation of further education and training of the staff on site. Since there was no anesthesia department before and the surgeons performed the anesthesia of the patients themselves, we decided to train a team of 6 employees. In the afternoons, we conducted a total of 60 hours of advanced training, focusing on emergency care, resuscitation training, general and spinal anesthesia, and the care and transport of critically ill patients requiring monitoring.
The training sessions took place in the afternoons, but the team was also involved in emergency care and anesthesia in the daily hospital routine. In order to train the new team, we were also always present during the surgeries. Finally, there was a practical and written examination, as well as a graduation ceremony with the presentation of a certificate.
Since we had recently received a ventilator in the project as a donation during the Corona pandemic, but the staff had no previous experience with ventilators, we then conducted a 2nd training session of 20 hours on mask ventilation therapy with the same team.
In addition to advanced training, we were also responsible for emergency care of critically ill patients. Pediatric emergencies were most common, usually severe malaria cases with persistent seizures, respiratory illness requiring oxygen, or severe gastrointestinal infections, so we spent many hours in the pediatric unit’s monitoring room.
Otherwise, we were responsible for drawing up guidelines and improving structures and processes.
My spare time at the project:
Most of my free time was spent on research, as well as preparations for the lectures and training sessions. To compensate, we went jogging regularly with a few colleagues from the hospital and did yoga almost daily. At Christmas and at the end of our deployment, we made a very nice trip to the waterfalls in Boali.
I particularly apreciated:
Collaboration with the team and motivation of employees within the framework of the training series. Das Personal vor Ort war sehr freundlich und offen für neue Ideen. It was also nice to work with the Cap Anamur team, but above all I appreciated the fact that there were two of us in the project, so that we could constantly exchange ideas and also get through difficult situations together.
I especcially missed:
I missed my family and friends the most.
On some days I would have liked to have the equipment of a German clinic, because you quickly reach the limits of diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities and have to accept that many patients who could be treated well in Germany unfortunately die here.
My plans for the future:
Initially, I plan on additional training in intensive care medicine. However, I can well imagine returning to the project or a similar project in the future.
My best memories of my time on the project:
There were very many beautiful moments and memories. I was most pleased with the moments when the trained anesthesia and emergency team worked independently and one could observe the progress, e.g. the performance of the first own spinal anesthesia, etc.
The group’s graduation ceremony was also a very special moment.
I also have many fond memories of patients, especially in pediatrics, who had survived despite very poor odds. Which is why it was even more gratifying when they can be discharged in a healthy condition.
Team members in portrait
Thorsten Kirsch works as a nurse for Cap Anamur in Somaliland. His most important piece of luggage for the trip: His guitar. Being involved in areas where his strengths lie and having an incredible number of opportunities for further training - Thorsten has taken a lot away for himself from his assignment.
Pediatric nurse Simone Ross had great experiences in both Sierra Leone and Uganda. Working in the emergency room, in the infant and pediatric wards, training local staff, organizing materials for the laboratory - the varied and diverse tasks were what she appreciated most about her work in the project.
As project coordinator, Shabbir Ahmed takes care of the health care facilities in Bangladesh with which Cap Anamur has cooperation agreements.
Midwife Sarah Schütz worked for six months in the Central African Republic at our hospital in Bossembélé. There she helped deliver many children including twins and premature babies.
Nurse Nele Grapentin's first mission took her to Uganda, but it is by no means to be her last mission for Cap Anamur. The curiosity of the children, the incredible strength of the Ugandan women and such a diverse country - when Nele Grapentin talks about her mission, she quickly goes into raptures.
Mathias Voss, a nurse, spent more than a year working in our hospital in Sudan. His duties included ward, emergency room or maternal-child clinic rounds and continuing education for local staff members.
Above all, the strong women impressed nurse Karina Busemann in Somaliland. If she had to list all the fond memories she has of her time on the project, it would probably make an entire book. The laughing children will remain in her memory for a long time.
Pediatrician Dorothea Kumpf was in Somalia for Cap Anamur. For six months, the young woman worked in a hospital in Somalialand, an area in the north of the country. Especially the open nature of the population remained in her lasting memory.
The nurse Anika Wentz talks about her 6 month assignment in our hospital in the Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan. There, she experienced many things that impress her to this day.
Andreas Tsukalas works as an architect for Cap Anamur in Somaliland. This is already his sixth deployment.
Afghan-born Faisal Haidari works as a project coordinator for Cap Anamur in Afghanistan. Since 2001, the Afghan, of Tajik descent, has been taking care of the progress of Cap Anamur projects in troubled Afghanistan.