ENT Outreach in Zambia
By CURE International Canada on Tuesday, April 1, 2014 at 10:42 amOur CUREkids Coordinators are CURE’s eyes and ears on the ground in our hospitals. They not only file photos and updates on each CUREkid but also act as Correspondents, giving us a glimpse of life at the CURE hospital and in the country and culture in which the hospital serves. The following is part of the Correspondent series, filed by Joel Witwer in Zambia.
Since 2010, CURE Zambia has been in possession of a mobile ENT (ear, nose, and throat) clinic truck, gifted to us by Gorta and Irish Aid, and has conducted screenings all around Zambia. Minor procedures and extractions can be done on site, while more serious issues are referred to our permanent hospital in Lusaka. For all the children, the visit is an event, and, for the ones with hearing issues, it is life-changing!

Alfred Mwamba, CURE Zambia’s audiologist and the only audiologist in Zambia, attempts to organize the children in lines by school year.

Excilda, a nurse assistant, conducts preliminary screenings on the children to determine what their complaint is before they see the medical staff.

Charity, a nurse, peers into an ear for any signs of foreign objects. The majority of perpetrators are sticks and stones that were used in an attempt to itch and clean the inner ear. It is also not uncommon to find a cockroach that has crawled in during the night.

Aforementioned audiologist, Alfred, fills a teenager’s ear with ear mold impression material in order to cast a hearing aid mold.

Secondary school students wait outside the mobile clinic to see CURE’s ENT surgeon, Dr. Ute Froeschl.
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