Clinic Day - Take 4! What A Day!!!

And day 4 . . .this is how it went:


We started off the morning with a walk to the local school where we provided toothbrushes and toothpaste to the preschool children as well as antiparasitic medications to the 6th grade students. The preschool children received the toothbrushes with excitement and were educated on proper use and technique of brushing teeth. Unfortunately, the 6th grade students were not as thrilled to chew their not-so-tasty albendozol. The team had to carefully check to make sure that the students actually took their medications, as a few of them tried to be sly and slip them in their pocket!

After our visit to the school, the team was welcomed at the clinic by a line of patients eager to be seen. It was going to be a busy but productive day! There were three providers for the day: Jeremy, Dawn, and Ernie.  Together all 3 providers saw 90+ patients. We, the pharmacy students, were blessed to have the opportunity to spend a portion of our day with the providers and help assess patients. It was an amazing learning experience and included many firsts! Melodie and Michelle got to experience giving a nebulizer treatment to a few young children, suctioning infants with bronchiolitis, and an older adult. Michelle and I (Kristel) saw a case of head lice on a young girl from a broken family. The team knew that without follow up treatment and a supportive family this would only be a temporary fix, but we were glad to treat her to allow her some relief, if only for a short time. One of the most impacting patients of the day, was a 2 month old infant who weighed less than 7 pounds. This infant was malnourished due to the mother being unable to supply proper nutrition for the baby. The mother clearly loved her child, but due to her own poor nutrition it resulted in poor quality and quantity of breast milk. Hopefully the vitamins, education and counseling on proper nutrition along with God's grace will provide this child the chance to thrive.

After reflecting with some of the other students and team, I can truly say that our experience today really opened our minds and hearts to the reality of how poverty can affect a patient's health. It is easy to sit in class and hear a professor discuss different disease states and their manifestations, but to be a part of an experience with these illnesses firsthand allows you to gain an understanding that cannot be acquired in the classroom setting. We feel incredibly blessed to be able to help in the care and treatment of patients at Dr. Elry's clinic and look forward to the remainder of our mission this week!