Interview with Nate Cook

Interview with Nate Cook.

The next person in our team was Nate Cook. Nate has been a pediatric general surgery tech for over eighteen years. He is the proud father of two teenagers. This is his first trip with IVU med. His role here is to “make sure the cases go smoothly and help with the equipment, both ours and the KATH equipment” He also scrubs in as the nurses some when Afia and Fastina need a break. Those two have been a valuable part of the team, staying late with us every night and became close friends of Nate’s. Nate spends a lot of time adapting equipment and supplies. He shuttles back and forth from our store room and the theatre. He has a calm disposition which helps when things get challenging.

The biggest differences in the operating room that he noticed were fewer choices such as fewer suture options, a general lack of instruments. There are no “packs”- groups of supplies and instruments packed together. Most of what is here is linen. There are few disposable drapes.

“Ghana is great,” he says. “But not what I expected. It is more technologically advanced than I thought it would be.” Ghanaians have access to some technology thought the infrastructure is sometimes inconsistent. Our hotel’s internet being a prime example. The best parts of the trip have been the way the IVU team and the KATH staff have come together and work as one. The sense of brotherhood in Ghana is what stands out to him.

He would recommend An IVU trip to anyone. Nate believes that you find out what kind of person you really are when you are put in a new environment. From what I have experienced of Nate, he is generous, intelligent, resourceful and very considerate. We have been lucky to have him on our mission.

~Stephanya Shear