Grant Assenheimer
Grant Assenheimer is a logistician working with the Canadian branch of aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Shamwana, a tiny village in DR Congo's Katanga province. This is his second mission with MSF. Grant is a Canadian from Barrhead, Alberta.
Right... a medical organisation!
Author: Grant Assenheimer
When there is an emergency referral to the hospital, it always involves many people and often results in life-saving surgery. As the logistician, I normally send a car to collect the patient and then go back to my dinner. Last week, I was invited to observe one of these emergency surgeries and got to see firsthand the medical side of one such emergency. Although our expat doctor is also a surgeon, it is sometimes easy to forget. Most of the time, he is just Dr. Auguste a bit of a character, always smiling and a good friend and fellow teammate. On Friday night, I saw a different side of him. Not so much joking as he entered the operating room and emerged 3 hours later after extracting a still-born baby, removing a ruptured uterus and saving the life of the mother. ...
Author: Grant Assenheimer
When there is an emergency referral to the hospital, it always involves many people and often results in life-saving surgery. As the logistician, I normally send a car to collect the patient and then go back to my dinner. Last week, I was invited to observe one of these emergency surgeries and got to see firsthand the medical side of one such emergency. Although our expat doctor is also a surgeon, it is sometimes easy to forget. Most of the time, he is just Dr. Auguste a bit of a character, always smiling and a good friend and fellow teammate. On Friday night, I saw a different side of him. Not so much joking as he entered the operating room and emerged 3 hours later after extracting a still-born baby, removing a ruptured uterus and saving the life of the mother. ...
Real Isolation?
Author: Grant Assenheimer
Before coming to the DRC, I was told that the project would be in a remote and very isolated area. Visions of the rugged wind-swept landscape of northern Canada immediately came to mind. What a difference in what I find here! My version Ivavvik is a remote Canadian National Park in the very northeast corner of the Yukon Territory. Bordering the Artic Ocean, access is by boat or plane and less than 100 adventurers visit this park annually. ...
Author: Grant Assenheimer
Before coming to the DRC, I was told that the project would be in a remote and very isolated area. Visions of the rugged wind-swept landscape of northern Canada immediately came to mind. What a difference in what I find here! My version Ivavvik is a remote Canadian National Park in the very northeast corner of the Yukon Territory. Bordering the Artic Ocean, access is by boat or plane and less than 100 adventurers visit this park annually. ...
How was your week?
Author: Grant Assenheimer
Although its the middle of May and this is far from my first posting, Im sure there are still lots of you sitting at home wondering just what exactly does a logistician with MSF actually do!? I tried giving you a rough overview of my job in the blog of January 12th. To paint you a clearer picture, I thought that for this entry I would list the highlights from my past week. Supply, Supply, Supply To start, this week was full of non-standard orders. Tools for my drivers and their cars, tiles for the operating room and lab floors and training booklets for the outreach team. By the time an order actually gets sent, it has been discussed with the project coordinator, approved by Lubumbashi, cross-checked with the budget and entered into our supply management program. A lot of planning and calculating goes into each order and, in the end, this is extremely time consuming. ...
Author: Grant Assenheimer
Although its the middle of May and this is far from my first posting, Im sure there are still lots of you sitting at home wondering just what exactly does a logistician with MSF actually do!? I tried giving you a rough overview of my job in the blog of January 12th. To paint you a clearer picture, I thought that for this entry I would list the highlights from my past week. Supply, Supply, Supply To start, this week was full of non-standard orders. Tools for my drivers and their cars, tiles for the operating room and lab floors and training booklets for the outreach team. By the time an order actually gets sent, it has been discussed with the project coordinator, approved by Lubumbashi, cross-checked with the budget and entered into our supply management program. A lot of planning and calculating goes into each order and, in the end, this is extremely time consuming. ...
Saving Lives
Author: Grant Assenheimer
On the way back, we spent the night at a health center that was outside of MSFs radius of support. In late 2008, the NGO that had been supporting this heath center (and many others) suddenly lost its funding and abruptly pulled out of Katanga. Blamed on the global economic crisis, this departure suddenly left 21 health centers across two regions without adequate medical supplies. The health center where we stayed was no different. They had nothingand what little was there was expired. No antibiotics. No drugs for simple malaria treatment. Not even a thermometer. ...
Author: Grant Assenheimer
On the way back, we spent the night at a health center that was outside of MSFs radius of support. In late 2008, the NGO that had been supporting this heath center (and many others) suddenly lost its funding and abruptly pulled out of Katanga. Blamed on the global economic crisis, this departure suddenly left 21 health centers across two regions without adequate medical supplies. The health center where we stayed was no different. They had nothingand what little was there was expired. No antibiotics. No drugs for simple malaria treatment. Not even a thermometer. ...
Ghost Town
Author: Grant Assenheimer
Before the war, Manono was a pretty happening place. Post office, electricity, trade schools, running water. Big tree-lined boulevards with promenades and nice shops on either side. There was even a section of town with paved streets and huge European houses. Mining was the mainstay of the economy and, under the Pro-Western government of Mobutu, a handful of foreign companies were busy pulling as many minerals out of the region as fast as they could. With the outbreak of war, all of these companies pulled out and none have returned. Hundreds of individuals now comb the tailings piles in hopes of finding something they can sell in what is now termed artesian miningbut there hasnt been steady work in the mines here for quite a while. ...
Next entries
Author: Grant Assenheimer
Before the war, Manono was a pretty happening place. Post office, electricity, trade schools, running water. Big tree-lined boulevards with promenades and nice shops on either side. There was even a section of town with paved streets and huge European houses. Mining was the mainstay of the economy and, under the Pro-Western government of Mobutu, a handful of foreign companies were busy pulling as many minerals out of the region as fast as they could. With the outbreak of war, all of these companies pulled out and none have returned. Hundreds of individuals now comb the tailings piles in hopes of finding something they can sell in what is now termed artesian miningbut there hasnt been steady work in the mines here for quite a while. ...
