14 October 2009
On Monday morning, Bela and I went up to the clinic early in the morning to wash some clothes before beginning to sweep and mop the clinic. Neal and Rebecca joined us up at the clinic shortly thereafter, and so short work was made of the morning tasks.
We sat down to a breakfast of fried plantains and coffee, but just as we were starting to eat, Ramiro pulled up in the Campesinos para el Desarrollo Humano pickup truck. A young woman was carried out of the truck and into the clinic by two men and put on one of the clinic beds. We talked with Ramiro briefly, and then the four of us (Ramiro used to work as a health promotor before becoming the director of the NGO) went in to see the patient.
She was a 19 year old girl, four months pregnant, with severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and fever. Her father and husband had thought that she had dengue fever, and so had waited for a few days before coming to the clinic. However, the night before coming in she had gotten much worse, and so had called Ramiro early in the morning. We examined the patient quickly, but decided that she might have appendicitis and would be better served in the hospital. Since Neal had just arrived, we decided that he should go to the hospital to see the process of getting a patient admitted. Bela decided that I should go as well, and that he would stay and see patients in the clinic with Etelvina.
The patient´s father and husband carried her back to the truck. Neal and I hopped in and traveled the forty five minutes to the hospital with the family. Once we arrived, the hospital guard brought us a wheelchair, and I went in to the talk with the nurses and doctor while Neal helped the family wheel the patient in. The doctor took one look at the patient and decided to see her immediately. He wheeled her to an examining room in the emergency department, talked with her and family, and then examined her. After the exam, he asked her not to eat or drink anything, told her that he was afraid she would need surgery, and sent her to get laboratory testing done. After she was admitted, Neal and I traveled back to the clinic.
We arrived at the clinic a little after noon, and ate quickly, because we had planned on presenting a workshop on tuberculosis at one of the neighborhood community meetings. Each month the neighborhoods have a meeting where families discuss community projects, community development, plan events, and occasionally have guests. Etelvina´s husband is the secretary for her community, called Colon, and so we were invited to give a talk there.
We arrived, and the meeting began with some community business. About halfway through the meeting it was our turn to present. We began with introductions and the objectives our talk, and then preceded to perform a sociodrama about a family whose mother had a prolonged talk. Etelvina played herself as the health promotor who helped the patient perform sputum samples, and visited the patient and husband later to make sure the husband performed the test and the patient received her therapy. After the sociodrama we presented the symptoms of tuberculosis using cards on which had attempted to draw examples. After our talk there were a lot of questions from the audience.
The next morning Etelvina told us that the community liked our sociodrama, and we are now making materials for a new workshop, on burn prevention and basic first aid for burns that do occur.
--Calla
On Monday morning, Bela and I went up to the clinic early in the morning to wash some clothes before beginning to sweep and mop the clinic. Neal and Rebecca joined us up at the clinic shortly thereafter, and so short work was made of the morning tasks.
We sat down to a breakfast of fried plantains and coffee, but just as we were starting to eat, Ramiro pulled up in the Campesinos para el Desarrollo Humano pickup truck. A young woman was carried out of the truck and into the clinic by two men and put on one of the clinic beds. We talked with Ramiro briefly, and then the four of us (Ramiro used to work as a health promotor before becoming the director of the NGO) went in to see the patient.
She was a 19 year old girl, four months pregnant, with severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and fever. Her father and husband had thought that she had dengue fever, and so had waited for a few days before coming to the clinic. However, the night before coming in she had gotten much worse, and so had called Ramiro early in the morning. We examined the patient quickly, but decided that she might have appendicitis and would be better served in the hospital. Since Neal had just arrived, we decided that he should go to the hospital to see the process of getting a patient admitted. Bela decided that I should go as well, and that he would stay and see patients in the clinic with Etelvina.
The patient´s father and husband carried her back to the truck. Neal and I hopped in and traveled the forty five minutes to the hospital with the family. Once we arrived, the hospital guard brought us a wheelchair, and I went in to the talk with the nurses and doctor while Neal helped the family wheel the patient in. The doctor took one look at the patient and decided to see her immediately. He wheeled her to an examining room in the emergency department, talked with her and family, and then examined her. After the exam, he asked her not to eat or drink anything, told her that he was afraid she would need surgery, and sent her to get laboratory testing done. After she was admitted, Neal and I traveled back to the clinic.
We arrived at the clinic a little after noon, and ate quickly, because we had planned on presenting a workshop on tuberculosis at one of the neighborhood community meetings. Each month the neighborhoods have a meeting where families discuss community projects, community development, plan events, and occasionally have guests. Etelvina´s husband is the secretary for her community, called Colon, and so we were invited to give a talk there.
We arrived, and the meeting began with some community business. About halfway through the meeting it was our turn to present. We began with introductions and the objectives our talk, and then preceded to perform a sociodrama about a family whose mother had a prolonged talk. Etelvina played herself as the health promotor who helped the patient perform sputum samples, and visited the patient and husband later to make sure the husband performed the test and the patient received her therapy. After the sociodrama we presented the symptoms of tuberculosis using cards on which had attempted to draw examples. After our talk there were a lot of questions from the audience.
The next morning Etelvina told us that the community liked our sociodrama, and we are now making materials for a new workshop, on burn prevention and basic first aid for burns that do occur.
--Calla
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