Friday, May 27, 2011

I'm on a tractor..I cut the grass faster!!

May 25, 2011. Wednesday

Today was our first day in our separate clinical groups. I went to the town of Alto Caballero. There was a long line of women and children waiting to get in to the clinic. Hours are 7a-3p Monday -Friday, so it is usually busy in the morning. It is usually women with their children; very few men were there unless they were the ones sick.

We all split up into pairs and jumped right into helping. The first place I was at was with the doctor , who happened to speak some English. He saw a couple of patients and then explained what was going on with the patient and what he was prescribing. After about 30-45 minutes, we switched stations. I worked with in "triage", so the tech would call in the patient, and my partner & I would weigh, measure height, and take blood pressure (BP for adults, no BP for children). This part was pretty fun because I got to practice saying my numbers in Spanish! The last rotation I was at was giving IM injections to the adults and children.

A couple of things I found to be very interesting about this clinic. First, there is no running water during the "dry season", which is from December-March. They can't even wash their hands! The clinic is all open, and uses minimal electricity. Also, when the nurse showed us how to give the injections, she didn't wear gloves and she recapped the needles, which increases the risk for an accidental needle stick. I was very surprised at how patient the people were as they waited to be seen. They walked hours to get to the clinic, then waited for hours, and no one complained. No one yelled or got angry. So different from America!!

We also visited the elementary school down the street. We spoke to the assistant director and asked him lots of questions regarding the school & community.

Here are some highlights:
-no running water during the dry season, since there is not enough water pressure to push it through the aquaduct.
-enriched rice everyday for lunch. No drinks
-hardly any discipline. Students are well behaved.
-no corporal punishments. They only talk to the parents if there is a problem
- kids walk up to 1.5 hrs to get to school, by themselves. No worries about kidnapping.

I can't wait to get back to school and teach the children about health care. They were friendly and adorable!!

1 comment:

  1. I told my students about the children you saw and their having to walk 1.5 hours to get to school. They were amazed, but still do not get how lucky they are to be in America.
    Sounds like you are learning so much. We love you and miss you.
    Mom

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