FYI--there are some, in my opinion, very not gross medically pictures in this post.
Nicole and I left León for good early Monday morning, and made the trek out here with the whole medical team that we had been joined up with since our arrival on Friday. We arrived at the clinic, where we rushed in to where we are staying to drop our stuff of real quick, and get our first glimpse of where we are staying for the month--La Casa de Paz ("the peace house"). It was built 15 years ago by a group of nuns, who then dedicated it to be used by the local charities and development groups that work in the area.
The group split up into 2 groups and Nicole and I were separated 💔😿. Nicole remained here at the clinic, I hopped into the van and continued 30 minutes down the road, to an area that had never had a medical group before!
This is how it works: the medical teams come down and run big clinics where they essentially function as way of identifying what illnesses etc are out there. Anyone who needs a follow up or is actually pretty sick gets referred to the lone doctor for all 9200 of these people--Doctora Somarriba.
We set up in a municipal building, and I joined a dermatologist all morning. We saw all skin problems, and a bunch of primary care. We had a great time, she was a great teacher, and her translator, Ricardo, was amazing. Good groove going. After lunch, I joined up with a family practice doc from Colorado, and we saw a myriad of strange things all afternoon. All in all, it was a very positive experience, not just because I love doing what I was doing, but because the patients were pretty healthy.
Before heading back we did a house call on a 9 year old girl born with club feet, and had never walked in her life (although she skedaddled on her hands and left knee very quickly). We let them know that an orthopedist is coming in June, and that we can't do anything about it until then. And suddenly I found myself in a prayer circle--these are very religious people.
The group went back to Leon and Nicole and I met our cook, the groundskeeper, and various locals. It gets very dark and quiet here around 6:30, (except for right now as I'm writing this there is a Toyota pickup blasting Nicaraguan pop), and it definitely has taken some getting used to.
After a good nights sleep (and my first use of a mosquito net--crucial), Nicole and I found ourselves both working at the clinic here in Chacraseca. I paired up with the dermatologist and Ricardo again and we once more had a wonderful time. Additionally, it was my job to fit people with reading glasses. Talk about instant gratification!
Around lunchtime Nicole and I were invited to join in the weekly meeting of the Chacraseca community leaders. What organization! We witnessed as they talked about such as issues as educating their children, access to clean water, and building a new home for a young mother whose husband is a migrant laborer in Costa Rica. We introduced ourselves and offered to assist their community in any way we can in addition to working in the clinic. It was a wonderful feeling to be welcomed into the community!
For these 2 days, Nicole worked "intake". She recorded names, birthdays, heights, weights, chief complaints, and kept that crowd in order with her Latina sass! Haha no actually they were all very well behaved. We were pretty surprised to hear a lot of them say they had been waiting since 4:30 in the morning. Nicole also discovered that many people didn't know their birthday.
At the end of clinic, Nicole met someone who made it even clearer that we had come to the right place--this man oversees water and electricity in the community, working with the Austrian International Aid Agency. He is measuring water usage...and really needed a geocoder! Nicole was elated! So they will be going around all of Chacraseca to map the locations of all the wells and current piping being used, in an effort to improve the current infrastructure. This, in addition to her clinic duties. Can't keep this girl down!
I went on a house call that afternoon and met a young husband and wife who had been in a motorcycle accident 15 days previously. Wife broke both legs, husband broke his hip. Due to issues with insurance, and simple access to healthcare, they wife has only 1 leg casted, and the husbands cast for his hip was fine, until he had a seizure and broke the cast. It was removed and another was not given. They now just lay on their beds, no books, no tv...just laying there. I helped clean up some wound the woman had, and found myself in a prayer circle yet again.
The group left for good this time, and now it's just me and Nicole out here. We are grateful to have this opportunity at this time in our lives.
Sneak peak for my next blog: vaccinations!
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