Clinic Day - Take 3

Hello Everyone!

Hi Mom and Dad!  (The humble blogging typist today is Beth) 
Let us share our experience of Guatemala with you from today!  We had the luxury of spending the entire day together in our group of 16.  The bus took us all  away from the beautiful lake and clinic of Amatitlan up towards the active volcano Pacaya.  We all wanted to share our experiences from an individual view:

1.  Dawn - the school at El Durazno has not had a medical visit in over 1 year. As word spread, our volume increased and we saw a variety of illnesses from diabetes, to skin wounds, malnutrition, worms, and chronic diseases without any follow up or management. The most interesting thing was the lady with the "eye complaint" - she was having pain and discharge from her eye and she proceeded to pop out her eye - which was glass and no longer fit into her socket because it was too small.  We treated her eye socket infection with what we had.  She was so appreciative of what little we could do for her and gave us each a kiss and blessed us for helping.  I wished I could have done more; she was unbelievably sweet.  I felt like people were willing to receive what little care we could provide and welcomed us with open arms and open hearts. Even something simple like a multivitamin made a difference to them and the appreciation was humbling.  I felt like a SuperHero today!

2.  Jeremy - While everyone was providing direct patient care, I had some down time to play with the school children: soccer, basketball, jump rope, tic-tac-toe, and hopscotch.  Self-Reflection:  The challenge in the game of horse gave me the perspective that maybe I am not as sporty as I thought.  My next reinforcement of this was my graceful drop to the ground as I missed the soccer ball while kicking a goal, and landed flat on my back.  Ouch!  In addition to the fun, there was some education involved... we brought 150 toothbrushes and 75 tubes of paste to educate the community on the most basic way to prevent illness:  maintaining good oral health.  We ran out of supplies before we could give it to everyone, and had many requests for more. After clinic, we walked through the community down to a lake where you could search for snails and work the cucumber fields.  Samuel (our interpreter and son of our host, Dr Elry) wanted to compete to run back up the hill (an incline of about 50 degrees)... I won by making it 10 feet (at least!) before gasping for breath and sitting down to rest!  I considered drinking the water at the side of the road, but did regain my senses enough to make it the rest of the way without. 

3.  Beth - Just so you know... Jeremy did manage to get tan on only l side of his face... that's talent!  I would know because I was blessed enough to also play with the children today.  This is only because our pharmacy students (and Alex, our pre-pharmacy student) did an awesome job taking what we had and making a functional pharmacy that included counseling every patient on every medication.. in Spanish!  We did not bring ANY pharmacy students with experience speaking Spanish... and by the second day they had mastered what they needed to provide exceptional care to the people.  Although it can be difficult for the teacher to let the students fly free, it is a wonderful experience to watch them fly!  A mission to Guatemala is filled with many unexpected gifts; the children here  have so much to teach us - they are filled with wonder and joy; they use their imagination; they are sweet and loving and filled with spirit!!!  They have all of this without TV or internet.  A jump rope is fun for hours, and simple play like making a rainbow with sidewalk chalk is a highlight.  It was a highlight for me too. 

4.  Melodie - "the food is delicious!"

5.  Kristel - From the experience today, it was  a great learning experience as a future pharmacist to go into a situation where you set up on the fly, wing it, and be given the autonomy to make your own decisions.  You are used to being told how to do things as a student and this week has already showed me how I can grow in leaps and bounds to be confident on my rotations. It has also taught me the importance of teach -back.. When I asked a patient today if they had questions, she shared something with me medically that she was too embarrassed to show the doctor previously.  She confided in me and showed me how important it is to be present with someone and give them my attention fully.  A simple question can open the door to a relationship that makes a difference.

6.  Joy - My thought for the day:  A hug from a child makes the day worthwhile.  Today again was filled with many hugs and gratitude from the children.  Many dogs also experienced a little spoiling with treats to remind them that heaven does it exist and it tastes good.

 

To all our family and friends - we love you, take care, have fun shoveling snow... by the way we are all sweating and a little a little sunburned... and God Bless!

 

And more photos added this morning from our experience in El Durazno.

 

 

 

Clinic Day - Take 2

The day has now come to an end and we are getting ready to have dinner.  The day was quite busy as the team that was going to be in Guatemala City at Jordan Hospital decided to come to the clinic and spend the day.  Jordan Hospital is a private hospital that has a total of 20 inpatient beds with a 2 bed Emergency Department.  The patient census at this time was 5 patients with 1 admit from the Emergency Department for observation.  Interesting what physicians here will admit to the hospital that we in the states would send home with education as what to watch for.  When they were at the hospital, they received a tour and shadowed some of the departments but due to the minimal amount of patients, the experience was not what was expected.

Dawn, Laitia, and Emily worked with Dr. Elry to see the adults in clinic.  They had an experience with a woman who was diagnosed 4 years ago with a goiter and is continuing to be untreated due to the lack of finances for the treatment.  Once this woman and her husband walked into the clinic, you knew exactly why she was there.  Unfortunately there was nothing that we could do for her from a medical standpoint.  Dr. Ernie, Michelle, and Melodie were busy tending to the children that had been presenting with mainly respiratory issues due to the dust in the air and inability to keep their homes clean according to our standards.  The home that we were welcomed into was kept very orderly and they were very proud of their home.  We thank them for giving us the opportunity to see their home.

While we visit El Salitre, just outside of Amatitlan, Dr. Elry sponsors 10 children from the school with a scholarship.  This scholarship entitles these children to education and activities outside of school that encourages them to grow into more spiritual and well-rounded individuals.  During this time they sing and dance to songs about Jesus and how he is an important part of our lives.  Joy taught Dr. Elry and the children a new song with actions called "Jesus Loves Me So".  Thank you Joy for bringing a new song to the children and smiles to their faces with your well planned activities throughout the day.

Tomorrow we will be congregating as a 16 person team again to head into the mountains to run a half day clinic to families that have none to very limited resources to healthcare.  Not quite certain as what to expect but will be a fantastic experience none-the-less.  We will be taking some basic medications and supplies to hopefully be able to provide that essential basic care that we can.  In addition to the basic medical care, being able to provide some health promotion education is "muy importante" in order to prevent some illness.  Critical thinking is something that comes in handy when observing their home environment and what can they do to better their own health.

It is now time to dig into the food that our wonderful chefs, Norma and Liz, cooked for us.  Please come back tomorrow to find out about our day in the mountains and what experiences we have had.

Good Night Friends and Family, we greatly appreciate your support and prayers as we carry out the mission of God!

         

Clinic Day - Take 1

We finally got the blog up and running.  We decided to share the responsibility for updating the blog and today is my day.  Our morning started at 7am.  It was chilly for us but for the locals it was down right COLD.  It was 60s yesterday and down to 50s overnight.  Today it warmed up into the 70s so it was beautiful.

Our morning started with organizing the pharmacy and our medications.  Not as easy as that sounds as we had three whole suitcases with just vitamins and about 10 other suitcases with our other medications and supplies. 

Last night we took a tour of the neighborhood and got to visit Jellissa's house.  They people here are poor, but very happy.  In clinic today we say 72 patients.  Our nurses did intake, Jeremy saw the kiddos, our wonderful pharmacy students ran our pharmacy, and I worked with Dr. El-Ray.  It was wonderful to meet the Guatemalan people.  They were so appreciative for what we could do for them.  Hugs, kisses, and smiles are better reimbursement than anything we get in the States.

We miss the rest of our team members who are in Guatemala City working at the other site.  We plan to meet up with the again later this week and switch places.