electricity

I didn't get much sleep last night.

First, I was on call, and I don't sleep well knowing that I could be called at any time to wake up and go to work.

Second, just as I was getting in to bed, I was called for an emergency C-section. It ended up being a woman with a ruptured uterus, so we didn't finish operating until around midnight.

Third, the power went out sometime during the night and it was pretty warm with no fan. Not a big deal, although I did think it was a bit strange that we didn't switch over to generator power. Usually, we switch over if the power doesn't come back on within 20 minutes or so. I thought maybe the guy who switches the generator was just asleep. I knew it was a bad sign when I walked into work at 6:30 am and saw the man who switches the generator (J) standing with a headlight on outside of the switch room in deep conversation with one of the head maintenance personnel. Turns out there was a big wahala (trouble).

This is the electricity story of the day:

5 am: The main power line went out in a nearby town when someone struck and knocked down a power pole there.

6 am: J switched us to the generator only to discover a problem with the automatic transfer switch for the large, non critical generator. The generator was running, but the switch was stuck in the wrong position and wouldn't let the generator power through. The compound, well pump, central sterilization, and most of the rest of the hospital were out of power all day, except for the operating rooms, pharmacy, and parts of obstetric and medicine ward.

7 am: The men in charge (J & K) were able to text questions to an electrical engineer in the capitol. They formulated a plan to get the power back online.

8 am J located the broken coupling responsible for the problems.

12 noon: We stopped all elective operations because we didn't have any power to run the equipment to sterilize our instruments and drapes. I went home and the walk home was HOT. When I walked into the house it felt nice and cool. Then I looked at our inside thermometer and it read 102F!!! I put the thermometer outside for a few minutes- it quickly went to 111F in the shade and over 122F in the sun!! No wonder 102F felt cool.

Somewhere mid-day, the town used up all the water in their tower.

The rest of the afternoon was spent looking for a mechanical solution which ended up to be a piece of angle iron with two holes drilled in it and a bolt to keep the switch engaged.

6:20pm Big generator started powering compound, pump and hospital! Yea!!!

7pm The local electricity came back on, but we will stay on generator overnight to ensure that the well pump is able to refill the water towers and our fridges and freezers get back to good working temperatures.

on a positive note...our freezer is now defrosted. we've been meaning to do that for awhile and just hadn't got around to it

We're just happy to have power again! 

J and K will be trying to get replacement parts from the states to fix the switch.

We are very grateful to the four men who spent the whole day working on the problem. And we are very grateful for electricity. It is hot here now and we were actually contemplating spending the night in the operating room where the critical generator supplies power to the air conditioners. :) Also, Luke will actually have a job to return to tomorrow.

Electricity is an amazing thing. This is the second time in three weeks that I have had to contingency a plan for a prolonged period without electricity. It is amazing the amount of work not having electricity creates. It is also amazing the amount of things you no longer have to worry about if you do not have electricity. Never a dull moment here.