Yesterday was very busy. Woke up at 6, students arrived at 7 to load all the stuff from our office to the buses two stories down. We had a human assembly line of about 40 people. Pretty wicked.
After a few mysterious stops, one episode of student throw-up on the side streets of Lima and some bumpy roads later, we finally arrived. It took about 45 minutes to set everything up, and this was the finished project:
This is the tooth brushing station and in the background the pharmacy and vitals tents.
Here is the main tent (white) that had 3 doctors in it. Each doctor had a table, a chair beside them for their student observer, and a chair across for them for the patient. You wouldn't know from this picture, but it got very sunny later. Consequently, the only place there was shade was right at the opening of that tent. This means that everyone who was waiting in line for the clinic or just standing around was congregated right at the opening of the tent. We're talking 40 or 50 people. Over the course of the day we probably asked them 5 or 6 times to move, and maybe a few people moved for a few minutes, but then they were right back where they started. I thought some of the people from today were a little pushy and forward, but apparently this was a tame crowd! We saw about 110 patients (just at our clinic, there was also another clinic at a different site) and took about 20 pap smears.
Last night before dinner we had a meeting with the students about the Medicine aspect of MEDLIFE and touched specifically on the trust factor between the communities and us. They have to trust us and believe our methods, especially when we are suggesting tests and examinations that are very much outside of their comfort zone and way past anything they've ever had done before.
But back to the clinic. Here are some more pictures:
Teaching the kids to brush their teethies and giving those 4 years and older a fluoride treatment.
Even a student on crutches was working hard all day long and spoke afterwards of how teeth-brushing was her favorite station because of how great the kids are to work with.
This is the vitals station where we take height, weight and blood pressure.
Students pitch in and do whatever they need to do to keep the clinic running. Sometimes it means holding someones child while they are seen by the doctor.
Mi amiga quien le encantan los fotos.
The whole group working at Clinic I.
We got back at 4:30, I showered and made it back to the hostel at 5:30 for the meeting where we talk to the students about their experience, what MEDLIFE stands for, etc. I ate dinner with the students and then went to karaoke and finally dropped into bed midnight. Long day, but definitely a great day! I got some sunburn, learned some new spanish words, met some new friends (locals and visiting students), had a late night slam-packed combi (bus) riding experience and Got another pair of socks blackened from the dirt/sand that is everywhere in Pamplona. Mom- I'm going to need all new socks when I return.
Another clinic day tomorrow (today, actually, as I write this it is 7:30 AM). I am excited for the students to see the difference just between two locations of clinics, because some communities are much better/worse off than others. I can already see the students eyes opening to the world around them and being truly woken up by the conditions they see.
The students at the karaoke place. They were loving it. In all, they probably spent close to 1000 soles on drinks. Phew.
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