From day one, the CureCervicalCancer team could already tell we were going to be leaving behind these two “clinics in a suitcase” in good hands. As soon as the clinic doors opened shortly after our training lecture, all 15 trainees quickly familiarized themselves with the new equipment and mobilized the hundreds of patients in an orderly and efficient manner. In just four days, we screened a record-breaking 2,795 women at both Mong Cai General Hospital and Hai Ha Medical Center.
The clinic drew in large crowds each day with seemingly growing numbers of women waiting eagerly to be screened. On Tuesday, a small group of women from the Dao community, about 45 kilometers from Mong Cai and in some of the most mountainous regions of northern Vietnam, waited amongst the hundreds of women to be screened. We are always warned the day before that the volume of patients will be greater each day in coming and it can be overwhelming at times when we have to split the CCC team members to hold clinic in two locations simultaneously as we did this week. However, with the help from hospital administrators and staff members, added in with the efficiency of all 15 trainees, we were far from worried.
Today, we are proud to say that the women from both Mong Cai and Hai Ha district hospital can now confidently and competently provide the care required for cervical cancer screening and treatment. We would like to give a special thanks to our donors, Phyllis and Bart Cohen, for making our efforts possible and helping us to establish our main clinic in Mong Cai.