All go in Chios

This week I feel like I’ve gotten into the flow of working in the camp despite there being lots of change and lots of patients. Our team has switched around a bit this week and Claire the nurse from the UK finished her contract and Lottie from Holland joined us. A few days later we were joined by another Arabic translator Ahmad.  We have also had visits to the clinic from DFID (our donors), MdM Holland, MdM international and a journalist who took photos of us working all day for MdM Belgium! Some stay a few minutes some stay all day. I’m dreading seeing a hundred unflattering photos of me getting coughed on by small children!

Advocacy in action!

I had a great week in the clinic and I’m mostly really enjoying my time with the patients. But, I’ve definitely been burning the candle at both ends and after a particularly late night on Saturday, being coughed at by 50 people with an upper respiratory tract infection a day, combined with sunbathing and swimming in the sea on Sunday I’m now suffering a bit of a cold. It has made me slow down a bit and I’ve been getting some early nights and looking after myself (don’t worry Mum). I’m now much more empathetic towards everyone coming to the clinic with a sore throat and headache as I know exactly how they feel!

Team photo on night out!

We are unfortunately lacking a Farsi translator this week which has made consultations with Afghani people challenging. Its amazing how many Afghanis we are seeing and I think so many people have forgotten how fragile of a state it still is. Many Afghanis are saying there has been renewed violence or Taliban has taken control in their area recently or they have been in camps in Pakistan for years with no end in sight. Anyway, my finely tuned charade skills with a mixture of Urdu and a few Farsi words I’ve picked up, have allowed me to communicate most of the minor illnesses with people. Also many people are coming from refugee camps within Pakistan so they have reasonable Urdu which is nice to be able to communicate directly without a translator.

The clinic has been busy almost every day this week with us seeing around 50-70 people a day during clinic hours. This week has seen a couple of emergency cases along with the usual raft of minor illnesses. I’ve seen many pregnant women, lots of very young babies and children and a few elderly and disabled people. We made one ambulance transfer to hospital for a young Afghani boy who had a complicated past medical history. He had been diagnosed with heart failure two years ago and was giving himself IV medication through a cannula every other day. He had a packet of X-rays and letters written in Farsi and a bag of all sorts of medications including IV furosemide! On arrival in the clinic he had dangerously low blood pressure so whilst waiting for the ambulance we placed an IV line and gave him urgent fluids. He stayed in the hospital for a number of days and we haven’t seen him again at the clinic, I think he may still be an inpatient or has been transferred directly to Athens.

For the medics reading spot diagnosis!

Yesterday I referred an elderly man who was septic with a bad chest infection. Apparently he was unwell for several days but had got much worse whilst waiting in Turkey to come to Greece. Several people have told me that they have to hide in the “jungle” on the Turkish side with the smugglers and wait for the moment to get on a boat at night. Many are reporting they have nothing to eat or drink during this time so its no wonder some are turning up to Chios in such a bad state.

Another day, I went outside the clinic to see how busy our waiting room was and saw a little boy sat on the floor with his head on his knees. I went over and tried to see if he was ok but he was completely unresponsive. I got a bit worried and quickly lay him down to assess him properly but as I did, I realized he was completely asleep. He woke up with a start as I manhandled him and he just picked himself up and walked off towards the tents. I shouted after him to check he was ok and tried to get a translator to see if he needed anything but I guess he was just completely exhausted and when he sat down fell straight asleep in the middle of the road.

On one afternoon that wasn’t so busy, I saw a young girl about 8 years old called Najmah playing with a ball by herself. So I called out to her to kick me the ball so we could play a bit and she excitedly did so. I immediately, completely uncontrolled, booted the ball over the fence into the restricted area where she wasn’t allowed to go. I ran round with her to the security guard who obligingly let us retrieve the ball. Once the ball was back we realized I had managed to kick it onto the only shard of glass in the entire camp and it was punctured and constantly deflating. I felt so bad and ran back to the clinic to patch up the ball and try and rescue it. Luckily, Najmah forgave me and 2 days later had learnt enough English to come and find me and say hello and introduce me to all of her friends in the camp as Dr Aaminah.

My absolute favourite Jessica!

The kids here are really amazing and whenever you feel like the reality of this crisis is getting too much you see a small kids running around with bubbles or forming little packs and going on missions to get water or nappies for other kids. They are all so beautiful with huge long eyelashes and the Kurdish and Yazidi children are just stunning! They’re so resilient and for most of them its just another day and new place to play and discover. There’s some really great psychosocial activities being provided for kids here both formalized and organized by independent volunteers. Our Medibus was transformed into an open air cinema one night with a film projected onto it. I’ve seen clowns, many many drawings and face painters and the legacy of people handing out whistles and party blowers (which get tiring after 6 days in a row!).

Kids activities in the Red cross kids centre

The current political situation is starting to affect things here in the camp. There are currently over 35,000 refugees stuck in Greece. Last week Macedonia closed its borders to Afghanis and introduced stricter language tests to ensure only Syrians and Iraqis were getting through. I said goodbye to the mother and father of the child who died, I spoke about in my last blog, full of guilt at knowing they were walking into a terrible situation to maybe be stuck at the Greek/Macedonian border indefinitely. I couldn’t believe after all the trauma they had been through they had so much more to bear. I hugged her tightly and in that moment Inshallah (God willing) was the only thing I could say as I said goodbye.

Yesterday Macedonia completely closed its borders and other countries have enforced strict quotas. Austria is only accepting 80 people a day and there is subsequent chaos here in Greece. The islands have had to restrict ticket sales on the ferries headed to Athens as people are accumulating at an alarming rate there. They have had to open up new camps in Athens, including a baseball stadium and there are still so many people sleeping in the streets. There they have little access to food or water let alone medical aid. The impact on the Greek economy, already struggling so desperately to provide for its own population is enormous. Early reservations for the holiday seasons in Kos, Lesbos and other islands are down 60% on the previous year. 

Today in Chios over 900 people are staying in Souda camp and its overflowed into 2 more temporary camps. I think we are going to have to start up evening shifts to provide care at the other temporary camps as there is no medical care at any of these new shelters. And yet still the camp is controlled with gentle calmness. There are two entrances and exits and just one security guard at each. No sign of a gun or an army uniform anywhere near and there is not a hint of disorder. People calmly wait in lines when food is distributed and even when the clinic is heaving we have everyone waiting their turn to be seen.

We have seen a lot more Frontex (international border control) cars and army vehicles driving around but not an increased presence in the camp yet. The people of Chios continue to welcome and find space for all of these people and the cafes are still providing free food. There are now Nato boats patrolling the waters with an aim of “preventing sinking” of any of the smugglers boats but if the boats are found in Turkish waters they are taken back to Turkey. I think its going to be an interesting few weeks as the political situation evolves and refugees pile up on the Greek Islands. I think the medibus is going to be very useful in providing care around the island to those stuck out in temporary camps. We will see how it goes and I’ll be sure to keep you updated!  

Just in case you're jealous, I've not been sunbathing every day