Screening

Screening has gone really well. Tommy finished work early on Friday to go with the security team on Friday afternoon to set up the lines and came back aboard on Saturday after working the night.

By 10pm on Friday night there were already a couple of hundred people in line, with many more having been sent away who we were unable to help. People kept arriving, and continued to be pre-screened to send away people we can't help. The security team worked hard all night walking up and down the line to make sure that everybody was calm and kept informed. Tommy had a great time interacting with the many people he met, both those we could and couldn't help. He saw some heartbreaking conditions that we don't have surgeons to help with and hundreds of hernias when our hernia list is already full for now. By the morning there were a couple of thousand people in line and the nurses in the screening team began to screen around 7am. The line was so calm and moved so smoothly that the line was gone by around 8:30 and everybody we could help was in the compound beginning the long process that results in an appointment for surgery.

It was a very long day for Tommy, but also a very enjoyable one. It was a fantastic opportunity to see a different side of the Sierra Leoneon peole than what we saw at the Stadium screening. Alongside the desperation, this time we were able to bring hope that with an orderly line we would be able to see everybody in the line.