St. Theresa Hospital, Isohe, South Sudan

St. Theresa Catholic Church, Isohe

We arrived in Torit on Monday, October 10, and on Wednesday, October 12, we had the opportunity to travel to Isohe. Isohe is one of the most beautiful places in the diocese (the banner photo for this blog, as well as for the CFR Sudan Mission Blog, are both from Isohe), and I’ve had the blessing of having been able to make several visits there before, most recently for the Bread of Life Eucharistic Youth Retreat we conducted there last year (click here for previous CFR Sudan Blog postings about Isohe).

St. Theresa Catholic Hospital, Isohe

The principal purpose of our visit this time was for Dr. Will Stallings to see St. Theresa Hospital and meet the doctor who works there. On Tuesday morning Sr. Theresa Denis Aywok, Sister of the Sacred Heart and administrator of the hospital, and Dr. Brian B. Madison, the Sudanese doctor who works there, gave us a complete tour of the facility.

Left to Right: Dr. William Stallings, Sr. Theresa Denis Aywok, Dr. Brian B. Madison.

An operating room which has been under construction for several years is now almost ready to be used. There are some final touches and alterations to be completed, and the hospital would like to construct a small separate ward for patients recovering from surgery.

Operating Room.

Maternity Ward.

A big part of the hospital’s work has to do with pregnancy and maternity cases. St. Theresa’s offers prenatal care and deals with many cases of complicated child birth. These cases sometimes have to do with the youth and petite body structure of mothers, as well weakness caused by insufficient malnutrition. Many cases requiring cesarean birth have to be referred to a hospital in Uganda, about five hours away. The hope is that with the completion of the surgical component, some of those cases will be able to be treated locally.

Betty (standing, left), one of the midwives, with a patient.

Checking body weight of children in danger of malnutrition.

The hospital’s care of children doesn’t stop at birth, though. There is ongoing screening of body weight, height and health, especially for children in danger of malnutrition. The little girl below came to St. Theresa’s suffering from bone tuberculosis of the spine and could only crawl. Thanks to the care she received there, she is now able to walk.

Once only able to crawl, now she can walk.