Cattle Dip Crisis

Two nights ago I got a phone call from William that he was rushing a small child to the clinic. He told me the child had just been pulled out of our local cattle dip. (Pictured above. It is a channel full of water and chemicals used for killing ticks on cow's hides.) Five-year-old Mercy was not from our community. She was here visiting her Aunt and Uncle on a big adventure to have a sleepover with her cousins Joylynn and Jerom.

As her auntie was preparing dinner Mercy and Jerom went outside to play. The story was narrated to us by four-year-old Jerom who told us that Mercy jumped in the cattle dip. He said that once she got in the water she started screaming and splashing. Jerom ran to get help and grabbed the first man he could find.

The man saw her floating in the dip face-up. He jumped in and pulled her out. The village screaming alert was started around the same time she was pulled out. Several of ELI's sustainable agriculture students arrived on the scene about that same time. These students were trained in our First Aid and CPR course back in October. They immediately began performing First Aid. William arrived as Mercy began to cough and vomit. He transported her to the clinic via ELI's ambulance.

I arrived just moments after Mercy did. There was a huge crowd gathering at the clinic and a few women and girls were screaming/crying. As I reached the exam room I found that Mercy was also screaming. At that point I heaved a huge sigh of relief. A screaming child is a good sign; it means she is healthy enough to scream.

Her lungs were miraculously clear and vital signs were stable. We stripped her down to her skin and scrubbed her with soap and water from head to toe. She was also given medications to help counteract the effects of the poisons from the dip. It was an adrenaline packed night that thankfully ended well. Mercy returned to the clinic for a follow-up the next morning and was doing great.

* As a follow-up to my last post, the woman and her baby were taken to the village chief. He felt that the best course of action was to involve her family. The baby was taken to the family so that they could be given the option of raising the child should they want to do so. I haven't heard anything else about the little boy so I'm assuming the family chose to keep him.