VOA标准英语2014--Cameroon Heart Patients: A Bumpy Road to Care

 

Cameroon Heart Patients: A Bumpy¹ Road to Care

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — The best heart care in central Africa is probably found in a sophisticated cardiac care center outside of Kumbo Town, 450 kilometers northwest of Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde.  But the location is so remote and the roads are so bad that many who desperately² need the superior care of the Tertiary Sisters of St. Francis can’t get there.

Thirteen-year-old Assana Mfout almost died on her way to hospital. Her heart was failing, and the journey involved riding down many bumpy roads. The St. Elizabeth Catholic General Hospital’s cardiac center is located on the remote plateaus of northwestern Cameroon. It’s the best hospital for the procedures the young girl needed.

The trip was unavoidable. Assana’s heart began showing signs of failure when she was just nine. It would beat violently from time to time. When she was 12, she could not walk for five minutes without stopping to pant. She would collapse³ in utter exhaustion⁴ two or three times a week. The school principal was afraid she would die on campus, so Assana was sent away from school.

In mid-February 2014, Assana Mfout was recovering in Ward⁵ V.

Cameroon’s medical pace maker⁶

Each year, thousands of patients like Mfout make the uncomfortable ride to the center to receive the sisters’ cutting-edge care. Last year, doctors performed more than 100 open-heart surgeries. The center has begun implanting pacemakers and plans to introduce other procedures in the coming years. It’s the only such facility in Cameroon, and perhaps in all of Central Africa.

St. Elizabeth’s is well-equipped and meets the best international standards. Its two theatres and 12-bed intensive care unit are fitted with interlacing tubes, hanging lamps, monitors and all sorts of bleeping gadgets⁷. Its staff is well-trained and come from all corners of the world.

St. Elizabeth’s care center is unique, says Sister Jethro Nkenglefac. “We were constructed solely⁸ to take care of heart patients, whose care is very complicated and needs advanced technology, equipment and consumables.

In all of Cameroon, there is none like us.” That is particularly true when it comes to serving children with damaged hearts.

There is even more good news for heart patients who come here. The St. Elizabeth’s Cardiac Center charges only $3,000 for procedures – compared to $80,000 in places like the United States and Europe. But access to its services is limited. To reach to the hospital, just on the other side of the hill, Mfout had to travel along one of the country’s worst roads.

Going to the cardiac hospital is not an easy task even for someone with a healthy heart.  Usually there is only one truly drivable road that links it to the rest of the country through the regional capital Bamenda.  But earlier this year, sections of the Bamenda-Kumbo highway were under repair – making the drive slightly smoother than before. All other roads that lead to the center are, in the best of times, winding⁹ rugged¹⁰ paths through hills and valleys.

When it’s dry, the journey can last an entire day. When it’s wet, it’s common for travelers to be stuck in knee-deep mud – meaning it would take two to three days to travel between 50 to 100 kilometers.  And, in the absence of adequate transportation, patients often travel by overloaded¹¹ mini-buses and even motorcycles.

Why in the middle of nowhere?

Sister Jethro says the remote location was chosen for several reasons. It’s close to an existing hospital that could donate staff, services and land.  The climate – with temperatures dropping to four degrees Celsius¹² – is well-suited for cardiac care: doctors say wounds heal faster in lower temperatures.  

But the most important reason appears to have been the desire to reach to poor rural patients. “The Tertiary Sisters, who are the brain behind all this, is a religious congregation with one of their main objectives being to attend to the poor and the underprivileged,” Sister Jethro says. “You hardly find us in the cities. You find us in the most remote parts of the world, where people really need us; where nobody goes to.”

Yet, some make the difficult journey.  Sometimes, rich people come by helicopter. Others stay home, hoping that community outreach workers will come to them with medication.

Those who live in big cities can take advantage of mobile clinics run by the St. Elizabeth’s Cardiac Center. The traveling program involves transferring the entire out-patient department to a partner hospital where cardiologists, pharmacists, nurses are brought in to consult people on the spot.

Critics blame the poor access to the hospital on a mixture of politics and bad policies. The North West, the region where the center is located, is considered an opposition¹³ stronghold, and local residents think the government punished them with bad roads. But it’s also clear that country’s health policy does not take into account the problem of accessibility. Roads are the business of the ministry¹⁴ of works and hospitals are overseen¹⁵ by the ministry of public health. Both have different priorities.

Patients are the ones who suffer from the failure to coordinate¹⁶ policies:  the ill must decide whether the slow and tortuous¹⁷ trip is worth it.  Many do not make it to the hospital alive.

1 bumpy   

adj.颠簸不平的，崎岖的

参考例句：

• I think we've a bumpy road ahead of us.我觉得我们将要面临一段困难时期。
• The wide paved road degenerated into a narrow bumpy track.铺好的宽阔道路渐渐变窄，成了一条崎岖不平的小径。

2 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

5 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

6 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

7 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

8 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

9 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

10 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

11 overloaded   

a.超载的，超负荷的

参考例句：

• He's overloaded with responsibilities. 他担负的责任过多。
• She has overloaded her schedule with work, study, and family responsibilities. 她的日程表上排满了工作、学习、家务等，使自己负担过重。

12 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

13 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

14 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

15 overseen   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was overseen stealing the letters. 他被人撞见在偷信件。 来自辞典例句
• It will be overseen by ThomasLi, director of IBM China Research Laboratory. 该实验室由IBM中国研究院院长李实恭(ThomasLi)引导。 来自互联网

16 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

17 tortuous   

adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的

参考例句：

• We have travelled a tortuous road.我们走过了曲折的道路。
• They walked through the tortuous streets of the old city.他们步行穿过老城区中心弯弯曲曲的街道。