The call comes in the middle of my clinic session at the hospital in rural Kenya where I work. I apologize to the patient in front of me and answer my phone. It’s the emergency department at the hospital in rural Kenya where I work.
“Hello daktari, can you come? We have a critical patient in casualty.”
I run down the street to the hospital to find an elderly gentleman lying in one of our emergency room beds. He is clearly struggling to breathe. I learn that he has a history of diabetes and hypertension; he developed a headache and paralysis on one side of his body two days ago. Now he is unconscious with a low oxygen saturation, even with a nonrebreather mask on. The staff are looking at me, wondering what to do.
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Matthew Loftus
Matthew grew up in a family of 15 children and completed his medical training in Baltimore, Maryland. Since 2015, he and his family have lived in East Africa, where he currently teaches and practices Family Medicine at a mission hospital. His work has appeared in outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Atlantis, and Mere Orthodoxy and his first book is forthcoming from InterVarsity Press. You can learn more about his work and writing at www.matthewandmaggie.org and preorder his forthcoming book here: https://www.ivpress.com/resisting-therapy-culture
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