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.
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