Brooklyn TB hospital

I have had the opportunity to volunteer at Brooklyn TB hospital for the semester. CIEE arranges my transportation, which is convenient. I go for about 2 hours a week. The hospital is a long-term care hospital for drug resistant TB patients. The patients are required to stay there for at least six months so it is a very extensive process for the patients to decide that they need this type of care.

In the adult wards, patients suffer from more than TB. We were told that many are not motivated to do anything. Many will lie in bed for the entire time they are there. It is the goal of the hospital to heal not only their physical ailment but actually help motivate them to get a job and be a positive role once outside again. I volunteered in the adult ward but it is harder because I don’t speak the language of the locals and we have to wear masks to protect ourselves so I can’t even communicate through facial communication. I found that I was more use in the pediatric ward so I think that is where I will stay for the rest of the semester.

I usually volunteer in the pediatric ward. Ages range from newborns to about 13 or 14. Many of the little ones have parents that are also in the hospital being treated, but most are abandoned and left at the hospital. Many of the kids also have TB that has begun to affect their brain. Mostly it is our job to stimulate them in whatever way we can. If that is to play a game we do that. If it is just a stroke on the head then we do that as well. The nurses are very busy and thus the kids love when we come and play with them.

The first time I went to the hospital, we arrived and we didn’t know where we were supposed to go. We decided to go into the pediatric ward and we kind of stood there aimlessly waiting for someone to greet us saying “oh you are the American group coming to volunteer.” No such greeting ever came. Instead, the head nurse asked us who we were and why we were there. We told them that we were from UCT and were here to volunteer. To our response she said that it was feeding time and to find a kid who was struggling and feed them. It was such a shock. None of really knew what we were supposed to do but found out it was to our own discretion. If we did not know ask but, basically we were supposed to find things to do and do them.

It was a completely different experience. In the states when you volunteer, you aren’t allowed to do anything. They give you orientation after orientation specifically illustrating your duties and things that you can do. It is very liberating to just do and feel like a help. The nurses are really nice people and it has been nice to chat with them as well.

Most of the kids don’t speak English. Many spoke Afrikaans I think but regardless it reminded me of playing with the kids in the HIV/AIDS orphanage in the DR, due to the lack of communication ability. It reminds me that playing doesn’t require language. Kids display everything in their faces. It has been refreshing to go there every week.