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.