My two projects to finish up my service in Los Cacaos are about planting seeds. First, literally, we are planting citrus trees and oregano in some fields that right now have no income generating plants. We chose 5 families who are very poor but had a little land that wasn’t doing anything. We chose oregano because it is a short cycle crop that can be cut 3 times per year and the market for it is pretty easy to get into. This way, the families have immediate income. This crop will be planted in the field with citrus trees. These trees will start to give fruit in about 4 years and are used for more income and because the trees help immensely with soil erosion which is a huge problem in this area. With these trees, the families won’t be tempted to burn the land before planting other plants (also a huge problem), and they will all be using organic fertilizer. The families received everything and were even paid to prepare their own land and plant their own plants and while it seems like they sacrificed nothing, these families really had nothing to sacrifice. We didn’t want them to feel they couldn’t do the project because they had to take two or three days off from work that pays money that same day. We are writing a contract, though, that if the project works and they make enough income (past a certain amount), that they will use a portion of that income and the help of the coffee association to grow the project and include more poor families. After they become successful, the coffee organization is also planning to help them even more. They will finance a cow, which will give milk (as the doctors from the medical mission know, most children don’t get milk), a calf to sell periodically, and free organic fertilizer. This project, while starting small, has the potential to really make a difference and I’m very excited about it.
The second project is about planting a different kind of seed. Since I only had a couple months left and a huge number of people wanted the training all I could do was “plant the seed” of the importance of family budgets and savings. At first, I was very skeptical about it. I had wanted to private family consultations because this would be more successful in getting the families to actually practice the tips and ideas, but no one really understood that and I only ended up doing private consultations with 3 families and 3 individuals. I did, however, end up giving a lecture on the topic to small groups and I was surprised that at the last group. While I know I probably won’t get back to them to see it through, the group was so enthusiastic at how easy the ideas were that they wanted to do a whole weekend training on it with their spouses. I told them that I was leaving but that they had all the material there and they knew all the information, so they were going to do it themselves! I’m not sure how many lives it will actually change, but even if it just changes some bad habits, I will be happy.
So, the big news is that I will be moving to the capital really soon. My boss, Joy, has had to take on some major extra responsibilities and I will be essentially taking over her normal responsibility for this time of the year. The normal responsibility is finding project sites and projects for the new business volunteers that come in August (and go to their project sites in October). So, since they are coming so soon, I will probably be crashing on an air-mattress in a friend’s apartment for a couple weeks because I won’t have time to find an apartment and I will be running around the country working with Dominicans to find potential projects for new volunteers. I am very excited for this work. It’s like a promotion. I am still a volunteer, but I’ll be living in the capital and doing higher level, managerial type work.
As I am actually facing leaving Los Cacaos and the work of a “normal” volunteer, I am a little sad. There are a lot of projects that didn’t get off the ground. The library (and all subsequent library related projects) and computer center were put on hold indefinitely as both projects required the mayor to work with me and he was never available. The improved cook-stoves didn’t get built, but there are mason’s trained to do the work, so now it’s up to the organizations that already exist to get them done. On the other hand, a lot did get accomplished. The town now has a working hospital, 24 hour emergency care, an ambulance (kind of), trained doctors and nurses, a laboratory, and much better maternity care. I did English classes for the entire time I was here. I taught better business skills to small business owners, families to budget and save their money, the coffee association how to do a cost and price analysis and how to create a marketing strategy. I have also worked on environmental and income generation issues with the oregano/citrus trees project. All in all, I think it’s been a productive 2 years work. It will be a huge change living in the capital. Here, I leave my door open all day, say “hello” to everyone I pass on the street, am welcome into any house, and if I have any problem whatsoever, there are any number of people at my beck and call to come fix it. However in the capital I will have running water in my house, privacy, better electricity, a supermarket with more food choices, internet, and all of the luxuries of a city as far as entertainment. The best part will be that I will have an office to go to everyday. While the work will have a lot of the ebb and flow of my work in Los Cacaos (super busy one month, nothing at all the next), I will at least be able to go to an office and feel like I’m at work. My life will, essentially, be “normal” in terms of America. I’ll still be a volunteer, that is, I still will be living “poor”, but not nearly as much as before and I will have a job that seems more like a job (even though the last two years were definitely a job) and for that, I’m happy.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Summer Work
My next project was going to be teaching individual families about household budgets and wise spending and saving habits. My big idea was to set up a calendar and talk to interested families one-on-one because it is hard to implement any major change in these types of decisions if you just receive a two hour lecture on how to do it. You need to sit down with someone with your real numbers and make a plan, written down, in order to actually make some sort of change. However no one really understood that concept and only a few families signed up for the consultations. So, we are doing a few lectures that will really amount to work for me but no actual results. Hopefully, though, those lectures will get some more families interested in an individual plan and even more hopefully these plans will actually make some positive permanent change in the family’s economic status.
The other project may or may not ever happen. The German volunteer in my site’s parents decided they wanted to fund some sort of project in my site but didn’t know what so she and I approached the coffee association with some ideas. We decided on a sort of sustainable agriculture project that targets the poorest families that have fallow lands and provides them with oregano plants (which are short cycle for immediate income) and citrus tree saplings (which mature in 5 years for long-term growth) and the technical assistance to get things up and going. It’s a great project and actually pretty cheap to help quite a few families but I’m not sure how serious her parents were or if they will get anything up and going before she leaves (which is the end of August).
The biggest problem we are having is that the coffee association and its umbrella organization have put their organic certification in jeopardy by not turning in some essential compliance forms. Because of this all marketing projects (which I’ve been spearheading) have been put on hold and their entire operation could take a major step backward. I attribute this problem entirely to politics. First, this election year the umbrella organization and many of the organizations that make it up (such as my coffee association) were involved in political campaigns, taking their time away from their work. Second, last year there was a change in the administration of the umbrella organization which was cause solely because of a political power struggle (the organization is very well recognized and a successful running of it can help political ambitions) and the new administration is clearly failing. While it’s sad to see such a successful undertaking falling down for something so stupid, it happens a lot in this world and I don’t feel sorry for them in the least. I do feel sorry for the farmers who are complying with the regulations who will not earn the higher prices because the people they entrusted to do the paper-work couldn’t get that done. As always, the person who really suffers is the lowest person the ladder, the one who did nothing wrong and is holding up his part of the deal.
The other project may or may not ever happen. The German volunteer in my site’s parents decided they wanted to fund some sort of project in my site but didn’t know what so she and I approached the coffee association with some ideas. We decided on a sort of sustainable agriculture project that targets the poorest families that have fallow lands and provides them with oregano plants (which are short cycle for immediate income) and citrus tree saplings (which mature in 5 years for long-term growth) and the technical assistance to get things up and going. It’s a great project and actually pretty cheap to help quite a few families but I’m not sure how serious her parents were or if they will get anything up and going before she leaves (which is the end of August).
The biggest problem we are having is that the coffee association and its umbrella organization have put their organic certification in jeopardy by not turning in some essential compliance forms. Because of this all marketing projects (which I’ve been spearheading) have been put on hold and their entire operation could take a major step backward. I attribute this problem entirely to politics. First, this election year the umbrella organization and many of the organizations that make it up (such as my coffee association) were involved in political campaigns, taking their time away from their work. Second, last year there was a change in the administration of the umbrella organization which was cause solely because of a political power struggle (the organization is very well recognized and a successful running of it can help political ambitions) and the new administration is clearly failing. While it’s sad to see such a successful undertaking falling down for something so stupid, it happens a lot in this world and I don’t feel sorry for them in the least. I do feel sorry for the farmers who are complying with the regulations who will not earn the higher prices because the people they entrusted to do the paper-work couldn’t get that done. As always, the person who really suffers is the lowest person the ladder, the one who did nothing wrong and is holding up his part of the deal.
Friday, May 21, 2010
update...it's long
Elections are today (Sunday, May 16th). I decided to write a little about my thoughts right now, on the system here, before the results are in, and then a little more after I find out what direction my work will be headed in for the next couple months.
First, this is a democratic country. The elections this year are for 6-year positions and include things equivalent to our mayors, city councilmen, governors and senators (on both a “state” and “national” level). While the country is working hard and the actual voting part is mostly transparent and legitimate (no one knows who you vote for, you can only vote once, etc.) The “campaign” practices however flow from the normal to absurd, legal to entirely and blatantly illegal.
The normal is this: posters of the candidates plastered to electric poles, along roadsides, houses, etc. Candidates will hand out hats and t-shirts, do “cook-outs”, hand out things like medicine and food to the poor, etc. The absurd can be anything ranging from dropping salami and chickens out of helicopters, hiring trucks loaded with speakers to go around playing your jingle (you’re not a legitimate candidate if you don’t have your own jingle), and my most hated, caravans. Caravans are just that, a huge group of people who get all the trucks, cars and motorcycles they own and can hire and drive around wearing promotional shirts and waving flags. Sounds innocent enough. The problem is most of them are drunk and riotous and block main (and sometimes the only) road passageways for periods of up to an hour. Even if I supported a candidate, I would most certainly drop him after not being able to cross the street for an hour as a result of his booze-filled supporters.
The legal campaigning is basically the same as in the US, radio and TV ads that tout the candidates good qualities (although not on their platforms, more on that later). The illegal is just ridiculous. For example, the current mayor of my town told a group of poor people that receive what are basically food stamps that if they don’t vote for him he will make sure they no longer receive these food stamps. These food stamps are mostly a form of international support and therefore the local mayor’s office only distributes them, they cannot actually decide anything. People, though, believe them, and many turn in their food stamp cards if the guy loses, and the new mayor, just as horrible, collects them to give to his party members. The other tactic is buying “cedula” cards. Your “cedula” is your government ID and you need it to vote. Candidates will go out and pay people from other parties to give them their cedulas so they can’t vote the next day. This is explicitly illegal, but they do it in plain site because the people feel they can’t do anything about it and the police are just apathetic about everything.
Now, onto why the system, besides these ridiculous things, sucks in general. It is, mostly, a 3 party system. However, the parties have no ideologies, no platforms, nothing. They have colors. You like purple; you’re a part of the PLD. Or, your family is PRD, so are you. Because of this, the candidates do nothing along the lines of platforms or ideas they want to implement if they win. There are no debates. It literally is a popularity contest, which is probably not the best way to administer a government. Additionally, the government is run according the party that wins. If your party wins, you can expect a handout from the government, possibly a job. If your party loses, you can expect nothing from them, unless of course you had a job, then you can expect to lose it regardless if that means they’re hiring an illiterate farmer to run the aqueduct and you were a licensed professional.
The elections today will affect my work. A little background: the big election for me is the mayor’s race. The winner will most likely be Neno Ramirez, who is our current mayor and a total thief and scoundrel. His administration is being investigated by the federal government (this NEVER happens) for fraud, he doesn’t live here, and is basically just horrible at his job. But, his party created an alliance with another party, and since you vote for your party no matter the crappy candidate they pick, he has a huge support base. For sake of clarity, two parties (of the three) are supporting him. Then, there is Yrving Corporan. He is supported by the other party and a decent guy who I think would do a good job. He, at least, actually lives here. The third candidate is running as an independent. This independent movement is made up of all of the “head honchos” of the coffee-association I work with and the candidate is the founder of said association, Rufino Herrera. He is, in a word, amazing. And, while I have MAJOR reservations about them creating this movement and how it will, inevitably, win or lose, hurt the coffee organization, if he does win, he will make major positive change in my community. Considering people vote only for their party, it is a testament to his character (and Neno’s lack of character) that he has garnered quite a following and actually has a tiny shot of winning the election. I have a feeling, though, even as there are many people who hate Neno, this will turn into the situation the USA faced in the 2004 elections. Many people did not want to vote for Bush, but were torn between Kerry and Nader. Many people do not want to vote for Neno, and will be torn against Yrving and Rufino. This is how Neno might squeak out the win (I’d like to point out it’s very surprising that he should even be worried, having the backing of 2/3 of the political parties, it just shows how bad of a mayor he really is).
So, now I wait in my house (as it’s too dangerous to go out into the street, everyone gets drunk and angry or happy depending on the results) to find out the results and in which direction my work will go.
No big surprise, Neno won. The surprise is that he didn’t win by much. Rufino’s party gained 2 city council seats (each party gets a number of seats depending on the % of votes gained, then they pick who they want it to be). There are 5 seats, Neno’s won 2, Rufino’s 2, and Yrving’s 1, so they did well and hope to actually be able to make some change. The bad part about this is that while I want to do a library project with the mayor’s office, now the coffee association is a little bitter and might not want me working with them. Hopefully things cool down soon and I can get going on that. Since I’m not sure how that will work, my new “project” will be teaching farmers’ families how to make a family and farm budget to be able to save more consistently and know exactly where their money is going. It seems like a very simple project, but I plan on doing individual counseling to any family that wants it, so it will probably take me about a month to get through everyone.
The great news is the hospital has gone high-tech! We now have COMPUTERS in all exam rooms that will (soon) have all digital patient records. We have patient records on paper (remember all that work they did a couple months ago) and now they need to be put on the computers, but, that’s the easy part. We also have figured out how to charge the government health insurance for the people who have it, so we should be getting even more money allocated to us! The even greater part is that I really had nothing to do with any of this. Why is that great? That means that the government and hospital staff have finally picked up the slack and are working independently to move forward and when I leave there will still be progress! The saddest thing was when I went to see how things were going, some of the nurses were concerned that because they campaigned for Rufino or Yrving that they would now lose their jobs because Neno won. The Office of Public Health assured them that this wouldn’t happen as the mayor has nothing to do with their employment and I was very pleased that they (normally very political) did not use this moment to scold someone for not being a part of their party. Progress? Definitely.
First, this is a democratic country. The elections this year are for 6-year positions and include things equivalent to our mayors, city councilmen, governors and senators (on both a “state” and “national” level). While the country is working hard and the actual voting part is mostly transparent and legitimate (no one knows who you vote for, you can only vote once, etc.) The “campaign” practices however flow from the normal to absurd, legal to entirely and blatantly illegal.
The normal is this: posters of the candidates plastered to electric poles, along roadsides, houses, etc. Candidates will hand out hats and t-shirts, do “cook-outs”, hand out things like medicine and food to the poor, etc. The absurd can be anything ranging from dropping salami and chickens out of helicopters, hiring trucks loaded with speakers to go around playing your jingle (you’re not a legitimate candidate if you don’t have your own jingle), and my most hated, caravans. Caravans are just that, a huge group of people who get all the trucks, cars and motorcycles they own and can hire and drive around wearing promotional shirts and waving flags. Sounds innocent enough. The problem is most of them are drunk and riotous and block main (and sometimes the only) road passageways for periods of up to an hour. Even if I supported a candidate, I would most certainly drop him after not being able to cross the street for an hour as a result of his booze-filled supporters.
The legal campaigning is basically the same as in the US, radio and TV ads that tout the candidates good qualities (although not on their platforms, more on that later). The illegal is just ridiculous. For example, the current mayor of my town told a group of poor people that receive what are basically food stamps that if they don’t vote for him he will make sure they no longer receive these food stamps. These food stamps are mostly a form of international support and therefore the local mayor’s office only distributes them, they cannot actually decide anything. People, though, believe them, and many turn in their food stamp cards if the guy loses, and the new mayor, just as horrible, collects them to give to his party members. The other tactic is buying “cedula” cards. Your “cedula” is your government ID and you need it to vote. Candidates will go out and pay people from other parties to give them their cedulas so they can’t vote the next day. This is explicitly illegal, but they do it in plain site because the people feel they can’t do anything about it and the police are just apathetic about everything.
Now, onto why the system, besides these ridiculous things, sucks in general. It is, mostly, a 3 party system. However, the parties have no ideologies, no platforms, nothing. They have colors. You like purple; you’re a part of the PLD. Or, your family is PRD, so are you. Because of this, the candidates do nothing along the lines of platforms or ideas they want to implement if they win. There are no debates. It literally is a popularity contest, which is probably not the best way to administer a government. Additionally, the government is run according the party that wins. If your party wins, you can expect a handout from the government, possibly a job. If your party loses, you can expect nothing from them, unless of course you had a job, then you can expect to lose it regardless if that means they’re hiring an illiterate farmer to run the aqueduct and you were a licensed professional.
The elections today will affect my work. A little background: the big election for me is the mayor’s race. The winner will most likely be Neno Ramirez, who is our current mayor and a total thief and scoundrel. His administration is being investigated by the federal government (this NEVER happens) for fraud, he doesn’t live here, and is basically just horrible at his job. But, his party created an alliance with another party, and since you vote for your party no matter the crappy candidate they pick, he has a huge support base. For sake of clarity, two parties (of the three) are supporting him. Then, there is Yrving Corporan. He is supported by the other party and a decent guy who I think would do a good job. He, at least, actually lives here. The third candidate is running as an independent. This independent movement is made up of all of the “head honchos” of the coffee-association I work with and the candidate is the founder of said association, Rufino Herrera. He is, in a word, amazing. And, while I have MAJOR reservations about them creating this movement and how it will, inevitably, win or lose, hurt the coffee organization, if he does win, he will make major positive change in my community. Considering people vote only for their party, it is a testament to his character (and Neno’s lack of character) that he has garnered quite a following and actually has a tiny shot of winning the election. I have a feeling, though, even as there are many people who hate Neno, this will turn into the situation the USA faced in the 2004 elections. Many people did not want to vote for Bush, but were torn between Kerry and Nader. Many people do not want to vote for Neno, and will be torn against Yrving and Rufino. This is how Neno might squeak out the win (I’d like to point out it’s very surprising that he should even be worried, having the backing of 2/3 of the political parties, it just shows how bad of a mayor he really is).
So, now I wait in my house (as it’s too dangerous to go out into the street, everyone gets drunk and angry or happy depending on the results) to find out the results and in which direction my work will go.
No big surprise, Neno won. The surprise is that he didn’t win by much. Rufino’s party gained 2 city council seats (each party gets a number of seats depending on the % of votes gained, then they pick who they want it to be). There are 5 seats, Neno’s won 2, Rufino’s 2, and Yrving’s 1, so they did well and hope to actually be able to make some change. The bad part about this is that while I want to do a library project with the mayor’s office, now the coffee association is a little bitter and might not want me working with them. Hopefully things cool down soon and I can get going on that. Since I’m not sure how that will work, my new “project” will be teaching farmers’ families how to make a family and farm budget to be able to save more consistently and know exactly where their money is going. It seems like a very simple project, but I plan on doing individual counseling to any family that wants it, so it will probably take me about a month to get through everyone.
The great news is the hospital has gone high-tech! We now have COMPUTERS in all exam rooms that will (soon) have all digital patient records. We have patient records on paper (remember all that work they did a couple months ago) and now they need to be put on the computers, but, that’s the easy part. We also have figured out how to charge the government health insurance for the people who have it, so we should be getting even more money allocated to us! The even greater part is that I really had nothing to do with any of this. Why is that great? That means that the government and hospital staff have finally picked up the slack and are working independently to move forward and when I leave there will still be progress! The saddest thing was when I went to see how things were going, some of the nurses were concerned that because they campaigned for Rufino or Yrving that they would now lose their jobs because Neno won. The Office of Public Health assured them that this wouldn’t happen as the mayor has nothing to do with their employment and I was very pleased that they (normally very political) did not use this moment to scold someone for not being a part of their party. Progress? Definitely.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Politics
The title says it all. Because of politics (elections are May 16th), nothing is going to happen. I'm just hanging out until elections pass until I can start work again. The hospital doesn't really need me anymore (which is great), so I am just sitting around until I find out who wins the mayor's seat, and that will direct where I go with my projects...So, until then.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Progress
It’s been a month since the medical mission left and the progress continues. The doctors continue to practice and use the ultrasound and have already used to identify a potentially dangerous pregnancy (they explained to me why, but I’m not a doctor and I didn’t understand). We then used our new laboratory to get blood tests done for that woman and the doctors suggested she leave earlier than she thought to give birth because they wanted to make sure she didn’t deliver here. She did deliver (without incident, thank God) in San Cristobal and now has a healthy baby boy named Eric!
The laboratory is taking non-emergency blood samples from Wednesday to Monday and after an incident with a transportation strike the Office of Public Health has decided to pay Milsion (the guy with the keys to the hospital) to take the samples down every Friday and wait for the results and bring them up. This will work SO much better. In case of an emergency situation the nurses will work with the coffee association, the mayor’s office, and public transportation to find someone to take the samples down. We also had our first TB tests done and taken to the city a couple weeks ago. The tests were negative, but because we now have that capability, the family self-quarantined in their house instead of travelling and possibly infecting others.
At first the nurses were not using the EKG machine because they didn’t want to “waste” the electrodes. The other problem is that the doctors are not that comfortable interpreting the results. A book on interpreting the results will be arriving shortly to help them out because they have about 4 patients per week that need an EKG.
Additionally, the Office of Public Health has assured that it will now provide all disposable items (gloves, needles/syringes, electrodes, blood collection tubes, ultrasound gel, etc.) and so far we haven’t been missing any essentials, but we will see in a couple months they keep up with this promise. I have a little more confidence now because they are getting help from an NGO called Operativo Panamericana de Salud (Pan-American Health Operation) which will provide computers for patient records and is working on fixing the electricity in the hospital. I have also noticed the Office of Public Health being much more responsible lately (probably because they have to be accountable to OPS).
On Tuesday we went to Los Hozederos (the first satellite clinic during the medical mission) and started making patient records for every resident there. We also taught Julia how to use the nebulizer and had her practice on the children and adults who will be receiving the treatment. She also will make a schedule so these patients get the regular care they need. Additionally, we passed out parasite medicine to those identified in the medical mission and saw an additional 40 patients.
The hospital is not keep records on every family and when the computers get installed it will all be digital and the doctors will be able to provide much better service.
The remaining money will be used/has been used to purchase a scale for Julia (to calculate the amount of medicine to give in the nebulizer), a cash lock-box (for the laboratory payments), a small cooler (for the blood samples), EKG paper (because I don’t trust the Office of Public Health to get that right), and probe covers for the ear-thermometers. Additionally, mom has sent me some books on the ultrasound, lab, and EKG interpretation to help the doctors learn and to help any new doctor get up to speed. The Office of Public Health is looking into buying us a special printer for the ultrasound so it is easier for the doctors.
Everything else is going well and I have a lot of confidence that this hospital and its services will be very sustainable.
The laboratory is taking non-emergency blood samples from Wednesday to Monday and after an incident with a transportation strike the Office of Public Health has decided to pay Milsion (the guy with the keys to the hospital) to take the samples down every Friday and wait for the results and bring them up. This will work SO much better. In case of an emergency situation the nurses will work with the coffee association, the mayor’s office, and public transportation to find someone to take the samples down. We also had our first TB tests done and taken to the city a couple weeks ago. The tests were negative, but because we now have that capability, the family self-quarantined in their house instead of travelling and possibly infecting others.
At first the nurses were not using the EKG machine because they didn’t want to “waste” the electrodes. The other problem is that the doctors are not that comfortable interpreting the results. A book on interpreting the results will be arriving shortly to help them out because they have about 4 patients per week that need an EKG.
Additionally, the Office of Public Health has assured that it will now provide all disposable items (gloves, needles/syringes, electrodes, blood collection tubes, ultrasound gel, etc.) and so far we haven’t been missing any essentials, but we will see in a couple months they keep up with this promise. I have a little more confidence now because they are getting help from an NGO called Operativo Panamericana de Salud (Pan-American Health Operation) which will provide computers for patient records and is working on fixing the electricity in the hospital. I have also noticed the Office of Public Health being much more responsible lately (probably because they have to be accountable to OPS).
On Tuesday we went to Los Hozederos (the first satellite clinic during the medical mission) and started making patient records for every resident there. We also taught Julia how to use the nebulizer and had her practice on the children and adults who will be receiving the treatment. She also will make a schedule so these patients get the regular care they need. Additionally, we passed out parasite medicine to those identified in the medical mission and saw an additional 40 patients.
The hospital is not keep records on every family and when the computers get installed it will all be digital and the doctors will be able to provide much better service.
The remaining money will be used/has been used to purchase a scale for Julia (to calculate the amount of medicine to give in the nebulizer), a cash lock-box (for the laboratory payments), a small cooler (for the blood samples), EKG paper (because I don’t trust the Office of Public Health to get that right), and probe covers for the ear-thermometers. Additionally, mom has sent me some books on the ultrasound, lab, and EKG interpretation to help the doctors learn and to help any new doctor get up to speed. The Office of Public Health is looking into buying us a special printer for the ultrasound so it is easier for the doctors.
Everything else is going well and I have a lot of confidence that this hospital and its services will be very sustainable.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Short Video with music
http://www.adrive.com/public/ca9ed2f4ce8070765b73d904a3e5d20c15e18edd7b71de9af558d4fa51f6b12b.html
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
SUCCESS!
The medical mission went off about as perfect as I could have asked. The medical team arrived only missing two pieces of luggage, one which was recovered before we got out to my site and the other (which we made due just fine without) should be recovered and delivered to the owner. Denise and I went a bought an exam bed, ultrasound gel, a refrigerator, a printer, and a blood drawing table, completing the necessary equipment purchases. When we first got the team together we spent a couple hours in the Peace Corps office, packaging vitamins and other medications and arranging for all travelling. My community members arrived on time and we departed with luggage and equipment in stow to my community.
Tuesday, February 2nd: The team arrives at the hospital with their translators and immediately begins sorting medicine, setting up equipment, and getting ready to go out to Los Manantiales, the outreach clinic for the day. Denise and Julie served that community and saw 100 patients! They also identified patients that need follow up care and realized that the community would be best served if we trained a person in the basics needed to give simple care (first aid, nebulizers, etc.). A woman who I have always loved working with was more than up to that task and we will be training her in the upcoming weeks. Meanwhile, in the hospital, chaos reigned as the huge crowd took advantage of the transportation and filled the waiting room. Mom worked on seeing patients, handing out medication, and trying to keep everything in order to give the community doctors a chance to learn how to use the cardiac monitor and the ultrasound. Joni saw a large number of pregnant women, teaching the doctors how to determine expected due dates, the sex of the baby (it was AMAZING to see the look on my friend’s face when she found out she was having a boy!), and many other indicating observations. Cindy went to the neighboring city to see the laboratory where we will be sending out blood samples to be analyzed and ask all the pertinent questions. Sandy worked on to teach the nurses how to take an EKG reading, until they ran out of the disposable nodes and had to turn their sites on organizing the ER and making the space more workable. Steve worked on building tables (for the cardiac monitor and ultrasound), which we had been missing for 8 months! He also found out the main problem behind the ambulance is that they put gas in an engine that takes diesel…not much he could do there. Diane went to work tackling the problems in the new computer accounting system for my coffee association, a task that is definitely not for the faint of heart.
After work, the team was taking to the coffee association to see the method of making coffee and given insight into the labor intensive process behind the main source of income for my community. After that, most made their way down to the local “discotheque” to try some famous Dominican “Presidente” beer.
Wednesday, February 3rd: Today the outreach clinic was located in Santana and Mom and Denise headed out there in the morning. Upon arrival we learned that the school (where the temporary clinic was set up) sent all the kids home to retrieve their parents and bring them back for a check-up. Needless to say, they were B-U-S-Y all day, seeing over 100 patients! Sandy and her translator went into the capital to try and find more nodes for the EKG and medications and vitamins that we ran out of. They soon found out that nearly all medical supplies and medications have been sold out for the efforts in the DR’s neighbor country, Haiti. They bought all they could (which was not very much, and NO vitamins, which we had since run out of completely). Julie saw patients to free up the doctors to continue learning on the ultrasound where Joni continued (that is, when there was electricity) to try and cram in as much information as she could in three days. Cindy started showing the nurses the intricacies of the lab while her translator took time to show them how to effectively take vital signs before the patients were sent to the doctor. Steve took his “I can fix anything” knowledge and looked at the various mechanical problems on the machinery that my coffee association had been having. Fixing what he could and identifying the other problems that needed certain unavailable equipment, there are now to be NO EXCUSES about mechanical breakdowns! Diane continued to tackle the accounting software and slowly beat it into submission.
Tonight’s activity was one of the best ideas (thanks Mom!). I had explained to many members of my community what a S’more was, but without the actual treat to show them, it was a lost concept. That night the coffee association made delicious cappuccino to share with the team members (which they all loved). Later, they made a campfire and we showed the community how to roast marshmallows and make S’mores. THEY LOVED IT! And not just the kids, the old farmers had a blast roasting the marshmallows and eating the yummy goodness that comes out of a S’more sandwich. I’ve been told that this American traditional has officially been adopted by the community of Los Cacaos.
Thursday, February 4th: Today’s outreach clinic was 3 Veredas. Mom and Julie set out and found a community very willing to do whatever it took to make them comfortable. Crowd control problems? Not here. They community appointed a strict “gate keeper” who kept people in line so the doctors didn’t have to. While they didn’t have vitamins to give out, they identified those patients who need extra care and the hospital in Los Cacaos will send up a doctor for follow up visits to those patients with the appropriate medical care. Denise stayed at the Los Cacaos hospital to help see patients and discuss and problem-solve with the doctors on certain issues. The work with the ultrasound continued and some of the doctors got fairly comfortable on the machine. The lab took samples and showed the nurses more techniques for work in the lab. When we went down the mountain, we officially took and turned in the first samples from the Los Cacaos hospital lab! After doing some more with the EKG and fixing up the ER even more, the nurses felt very comfortable working in that environment as well. Diane continued problem solving (and running anti-virus software!) and we think we can finally get the accounting software working correctly. After a hard day’s work, we headed down the mountain to a hostel before heading to Las Terrenas in the Samana peninsula to see the whales and relax on the beach.
This mission was a HUGE success and it could not have been done without the support of all of you. If you donated money, encouraged me, gave me advice, or even just read this blog, I have to say THANK YOU and all the success we had is owed to you.
Pictures will be coming in the form of a video, hopefully tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 2nd: The team arrives at the hospital with their translators and immediately begins sorting medicine, setting up equipment, and getting ready to go out to Los Manantiales, the outreach clinic for the day. Denise and Julie served that community and saw 100 patients! They also identified patients that need follow up care and realized that the community would be best served if we trained a person in the basics needed to give simple care (first aid, nebulizers, etc.). A woman who I have always loved working with was more than up to that task and we will be training her in the upcoming weeks. Meanwhile, in the hospital, chaos reigned as the huge crowd took advantage of the transportation and filled the waiting room. Mom worked on seeing patients, handing out medication, and trying to keep everything in order to give the community doctors a chance to learn how to use the cardiac monitor and the ultrasound. Joni saw a large number of pregnant women, teaching the doctors how to determine expected due dates, the sex of the baby (it was AMAZING to see the look on my friend’s face when she found out she was having a boy!), and many other indicating observations. Cindy went to the neighboring city to see the laboratory where we will be sending out blood samples to be analyzed and ask all the pertinent questions. Sandy worked on to teach the nurses how to take an EKG reading, until they ran out of the disposable nodes and had to turn their sites on organizing the ER and making the space more workable. Steve worked on building tables (for the cardiac monitor and ultrasound), which we had been missing for 8 months! He also found out the main problem behind the ambulance is that they put gas in an engine that takes diesel…not much he could do there. Diane went to work tackling the problems in the new computer accounting system for my coffee association, a task that is definitely not for the faint of heart.
After work, the team was taking to the coffee association to see the method of making coffee and given insight into the labor intensive process behind the main source of income for my community. After that, most made their way down to the local “discotheque” to try some famous Dominican “Presidente” beer.
Wednesday, February 3rd: Today the outreach clinic was located in Santana and Mom and Denise headed out there in the morning. Upon arrival we learned that the school (where the temporary clinic was set up) sent all the kids home to retrieve their parents and bring them back for a check-up. Needless to say, they were B-U-S-Y all day, seeing over 100 patients! Sandy and her translator went into the capital to try and find more nodes for the EKG and medications and vitamins that we ran out of. They soon found out that nearly all medical supplies and medications have been sold out for the efforts in the DR’s neighbor country, Haiti. They bought all they could (which was not very much, and NO vitamins, which we had since run out of completely). Julie saw patients to free up the doctors to continue learning on the ultrasound where Joni continued (that is, when there was electricity) to try and cram in as much information as she could in three days. Cindy started showing the nurses the intricacies of the lab while her translator took time to show them how to effectively take vital signs before the patients were sent to the doctor. Steve took his “I can fix anything” knowledge and looked at the various mechanical problems on the machinery that my coffee association had been having. Fixing what he could and identifying the other problems that needed certain unavailable equipment, there are now to be NO EXCUSES about mechanical breakdowns! Diane continued to tackle the accounting software and slowly beat it into submission.
Tonight’s activity was one of the best ideas (thanks Mom!). I had explained to many members of my community what a S’more was, but without the actual treat to show them, it was a lost concept. That night the coffee association made delicious cappuccino to share with the team members (which they all loved). Later, they made a campfire and we showed the community how to roast marshmallows and make S’mores. THEY LOVED IT! And not just the kids, the old farmers had a blast roasting the marshmallows and eating the yummy goodness that comes out of a S’more sandwich. I’ve been told that this American traditional has officially been adopted by the community of Los Cacaos.
Thursday, February 4th: Today’s outreach clinic was 3 Veredas. Mom and Julie set out and found a community very willing to do whatever it took to make them comfortable. Crowd control problems? Not here. They community appointed a strict “gate keeper” who kept people in line so the doctors didn’t have to. While they didn’t have vitamins to give out, they identified those patients who need extra care and the hospital in Los Cacaos will send up a doctor for follow up visits to those patients with the appropriate medical care. Denise stayed at the Los Cacaos hospital to help see patients and discuss and problem-solve with the doctors on certain issues. The work with the ultrasound continued and some of the doctors got fairly comfortable on the machine. The lab took samples and showed the nurses more techniques for work in the lab. When we went down the mountain, we officially took and turned in the first samples from the Los Cacaos hospital lab! After doing some more with the EKG and fixing up the ER even more, the nurses felt very comfortable working in that environment as well. Diane continued problem solving (and running anti-virus software!) and we think we can finally get the accounting software working correctly. After a hard day’s work, we headed down the mountain to a hostel before heading to Las Terrenas in the Samana peninsula to see the whales and relax on the beach.
This mission was a HUGE success and it could not have been done without the support of all of you. If you donated money, encouraged me, gave me advice, or even just read this blog, I have to say THANK YOU and all the success we had is owed to you.
Pictures will be coming in the form of a video, hopefully tomorrow.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Almost Time
The medical mission in only a week away! I am REALLY nervous but super excited because everyone in my community and surrounding communities are excited. The timing worked out a little crappy because I am going to visit my sister right beforehand. I am very excited to see my family and dogs and AMERICA...but I'm not relying on the government and community members to tie up the loose ends that couldn't be finished before I left. It will be interesting to see how much running around I have to do when I get back to make everything here.
We are working hard to get the laboratory ready to go. The government wants to follow all the rules, but they don't realize the situation (very rural, very poor) may mean not following those rules. Additionally, they have pressure to get the lab up and running because they're already advertising it as up and running. Getting the logistics up and running is definitely difficult in a down here. We plan on taking collecting samples here and then sending them down for analysis. Planning all that is very difficult
We got all the money needed for the ultrasound and I am SO excited to start offering that service. We had so much support that we have even more money to use to equip the hospital! I cannot begin to express my gratitude to everyone who donated! I will send out pictures and make a video of the mission when it's finished.
We are working hard to get the laboratory ready to go. The government wants to follow all the rules, but they don't realize the situation (very rural, very poor) may mean not following those rules. Additionally, they have pressure to get the lab up and running because they're already advertising it as up and running. Getting the logistics up and running is definitely difficult in a down here. We plan on taking collecting samples here and then sending them down for analysis. Planning all that is very difficult
We got all the money needed for the ultrasound and I am SO excited to start offering that service. We had so much support that we have even more money to use to equip the hospital! I cannot begin to express my gratitude to everyone who donated! I will send out pictures and make a video of the mission when it's finished.
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