Monday, November 11

We all woke up this morning excited to start our first clinic. We joined together at the table for a wonderful breakfast that included homemade yogurt. Several of us hope that we have time for the cooks to show us how to make it before we leave at the end of the week.  

Promptly at 7:30, we loaded the bus to head to our first community, Piedra de Afilar ("Sharpening Stone"). Due to excessive rain on Sunday and throughout the night, there were several slippery areas on the way up the mountain. Elmer, Melvin, and Neal came to the rescue using the wench to pull us out of the mud.

We all worked well together and set up the clinics in record time. Peggy and Susan assisted Dr. Adam in the dental clinic, seeing 39 patients and extracting 61 teeth. The medical clinic staff, made up of Shirley, Julie, Jessica, Yolanda, Crystal, and Dr. Eapen, saw 221 patients. There were nine referrals made for further medical evaluation: four pediatric and five adults. Donnie, Barrett and Dale were in the pharmacy mixing and delivering requested medications.

Papa Joe drew a crowd in the morning while painting little girls' fingernails and singing to them. After running out of little fingers, he continued to entertain many of the children waiting to be seen in the clinics.

Elmer and Neal had a slow day in the eye clinic with only 14 patients. Laura and Sean were in the deworming/flouride clinic. Their totals for the day were: 6 flouride, 42 deworming and 20 vitamin A. At the end of the clinic, Sean presented the community leader with gifts for him to distribute throughout the community. The highlight was definitely the soccer ball!

After dinner, the team shared reflections from the day. We all agree that this community was very gracious, as they thanked us several times. One of the community leaders made the statement that he knew that they do not have much, but at least God blessed the community with a beautiful view of the mountains and a lake. He said having material wealth means nothing when God has already blessed you with so much! Everyone, including the children, was well mannered and respectful. It was obvious that they take pride in their community. Laura shared that she was touched by an elderly woman who approached her and asked if she had medicine to give her. She said that she appreciated us coming to help her people and that she will be praying for our team to be safe and knows that God will take care of us! Julie agreed, as she said she wanted to take "grandma" home with her.

Dale spent a lot of time with a little boy named Eric, who was having difficulty breathing and needed nebulizer treatments. He will be one of the beautiful memories that she will take home with her. This was Jessica's first clinic; she reported that she felt out of her comfort zone as a trauma nurse. However, when a patient with a burn came through her station, she felt like she was back on the floor at MCV. Donnie and Barrett both agreed that at the start of the day they felt very "green" with the medications but by the end of the day they felt like they had the beginnings of a great system.   Yolanda and Julie spent quite a bit of time with an elderly woman at the end of the day trying to remove a severe blockage in her ear. Unfortunately they were unsuccessful with removing the blockage but are hoping their efforts will take effect within the next few days. Dr. Eapan recalled draining an abscess from the knee of a young boy. He said that he was "very impressed that he only shed one tear."

In the past, Neal has called the team bus "the Mountain Goat." Today he learned that it already had a name, "Elmer's white teddy bear." Elmer stated that he loves his "white teddy bear," therefore "Mountain Goat" will have to be retired.