June 14, 2004
FIRST CLINIC DAY:
What a day!
The team met on the back porch of the bunkhouse at 6:45 AM, cold showers already completed and ready to go. We discussed being God’s hands and feet this day, and grabbed breakfast in the dining hall.
By the time we got to the clinic (church), there were already about 30 or 40 people waiting, and the large waiting area out under the tin roof just got more crowded all day long.
Maria volunteered to begin the intake process, and took her position at a small table outside the clinic front door. Names, ages, and patient problems were gathered, and they were ushered into the four chairs that served as the “on deck” area. One patient or one family at a time, Clay and Arlen took the patients to the exam area, with its privacy sheets hanging on loose framing boards.
Brenda held babies, directed people traffic in the clinic, and even chewed up a worm pill to show a youngster that it was OK….. he then chewed his. Jennifer spent hours writing labels for medicine baggies, and intermittently shot dozens of digital pictures of the action. Susan unloaded medications and supplies, passed out pills in the pharmacy, and gave a couple shots of Rocephin to sick babies.
Jim counted out thousands of vitamin tablets into baggies, helped a couple people find glasses that seemed to improve their vision, and later assisted Arlen and Clay in the exam room.
By the time we broke for lunch, 42 of the folks that had signed in had already been examined and treated. The team was flowing along.
Mackenzie prayed with hurting old women, shot a few rolls of film…. mostly of cute kids, and fit a couple folks with glasses. Carol began the day writing labels, and spent the last few hours working in the pill-dispensing area of the pharmacy. Becky entertained children, passed out coloring book pages and crayons, and helped out a bit inside the clinic. Debbie unloaded drugs and passed out medicines in the morning, and staffed the vital signs table in the afternoon.
Clay talked, translated, encouraged, and helped. Renea helped with vital signs, carried drugs, and helped keep track of the paperwork.
The last patient of the day was # 101.
As usual, there were a lot of headache complaints and vague abdominal complaints, usually the result of “bichos,” or worms. A couple mothers informed us that their children had thrown up a few worms just a couple days ago. Many of the men had back pains, some the result of the work they do, e.g., using a machete for hours every day.
And, as usual, a few patient encounters stand out.
One boy was in the recovering stages of some severe burns that appeared to have covered about 30% of his body. He had pretty severe scarring in the works, from his face down to his toes, and his mother told us how he had to have the skin cut apart when his burned arm had “healed itself to his chest.” His badly burned right hand had scarred in such a way that it made it difficult or impossible to use his thumb and some of his fingers. His mother told us that the hospital had promised that a “specialist” would evaluate him when that doctor returns to this part of the country, “maybe in September.” Three months from now!!! There was really not much we could do for him, other than to support him and love him and his mother. We did give him some multi-vitamins and had him chew up a worm pill.
One elderly man wondered if we could do anything for his tophaceous gout, and showed us the numerous, huge, hard lumps about his wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles.
Two babies were quite ill, with fevers, respiratory infections, and probable dehydration. A couple others had quite a bit of bronchospasm, and we were able to get them started on some prednisone.
One woman reported that she had had no medicine for her diabetes in the past 20 years, and that she had weight loss, blurred vision, constant fatigue, and numb feet. Her Accucheck sugar was 462! Although we usually do not have many diabetes medicines to bring on these trips, this time we had received a donation of thousands of glyburide tablets, and we were able to give her enough to begin treatment and to take for many months. Of course, we have no way of guaranteeing her follow-up, or of re-checking her sugars to see how she responds to treatment. We simply have to hope and pray that she’ll somehow be able to find medical care here.
Several people told us that they were supposed to be on medicines, but that they were not taking them because they had no money to buy any (even though medications here are much much much less expensive than the same drugs in the USA). We were able to put a man with a blood pressure of 220 / 104 back on some captopril, and gave him enough of the drug for several months. Again, we wonder how he’ll ever be re-checked or have a doctor get any more medications for him.
When we stopped signing in new patients, it appeared that there were still dozens more waiting under the tin roof. They had to be told to come back tomorrow
Our feet were hot and tired by the time we got back to the Watts’ compound, and dinner was welcomed at 6:00. This evening, James and Golda had arranged to have us taken for a tour of the downtown area in a “MotorKar,” basically three-wheeled Honda motorcycles that can carry two or three passengers.
These MotorKars are everywhere; they look like flocks of ants coming at us down the streets sometimes.
What a day! And, we’ll get up early and head back to the clinic to try to help as many as we can tomorrow.
Baby boy with burns. |
Carol provided a lollipop after giving a young patient a worm pill. |
Clay giving directions about using an inhaler. |
Under the tin roof patients wait and children color with coloring books and crayons donated to the mission. |
Jim helping a man with glasses. |
Maria and Edson checking patients in. |
The pharmacy. |
