38

That´s how many days I have left in Peru. Hard to believe. I don’t know where the time has gone. We just finished a clinic week, possibly our last. We held it in Nueve Era, a Chipivan village of about 800 people, just outside of Yarina Cocha, a community on the Ucayali River near Pucallpa.
The week went well, especially considering the circumstances. It was the smallest site yet for clinic, consisting of nothing more then a pavilion made of thatch with a tiny back room. We set pharmacy up in the back and divided the rest of the 60x30 (aprox) foot structure into triage, weight/height and blood pressure station, and consults with bed sheets.
Dr. Richard was only able to come to clinic in the afternoons, cutting our patient load capabilities down to 80 medical patients a day. And let me tell you, that number kept us hopping. Jenni and I ran triage in the morning, her functioning as “la doctora,” and me prescribing what I could. I continued triage throughout the day, and between the emergencies and extras we saw about 100 patients daily.
This community had the most infectious diseases and infections I have seen, making me very happy we are having the Familias Saludables program there. We saw everything from diarrhea to Tuberculosis, and everything in between on a daily basis. Diarrhea and urinary tract infections were so rampant that without even asking the patients what was wrong if I wrote those two things on their diagnosis cards, I would have been right about 95% of the time.
Brent’s family was visiting, and it was fun to have them helping. His mom and sister ran the weight/height and blood pressure booth, making it possible for us have it. They did a great job, and it was fun to get to know them.
Tomorrow Familias Saludables and the Kid´s program begin in Nueve Era. This is the last set of programs before we leave. Crazy. I am excited about Familias Saludables. It gets better every time. This last time we added a test at the end and questions for each section. The women really enjoyed the challenge. I am hoping to add pictures to the handouts this time. Every time I try to improve it a little more.
Kristin and I are staying with a pastor in Yarina Cocha. He has a really nice house – they even have a small washing machine! We are pretty excited about that. No more washing at the well! I would rather still be living with everyone at km 38, but we get to see them all on weekends, so it´s all good. Plus, with this set up I get more access to internet and phone! So I can write more blogs! J
That’s all the news for now. God bless!

All In A Day´s Work

“Numero 67,” I called, and a woman hurried toward me with her two little ones in tow. As we sat just inside the billowing sheets of my triage cubicle, I asked what was wrong with the smallest child, 2 years old, who was sitting on her lap. “Él tiene diarrhea,” she said, “mira,” and before I could stop her, she was pulling down his pants to show me. Sure enough, there was a small cloth lining the boy’s pants (what the women here use in place of diapers) covered in green diarrhea. As I tried to recover, the boy proceeded to have more diarrhea as his mother tried desperately to contain it to the cloth and pants. Unfortunately, she was quite unsuccessful, and smiled hopelessly at me as she wiped her diarrhea covered hands on her pants and my bench and thanked me, careful to step over the lingering reminder of their presence that had dripped onto the wood floor and was now stinking, on her way out.