Shout out to David, the birthday boy! Happy 20th!
Michael’s words on the bus this morning could not have been truer. The medical and dental students were glad to help again today. We had a look out at the door and if someone from the Ministry of Health had shown up, the lookout would find Philip who would do his cattle call. When we heard “WOOOOOOOO COWS,” the students knew to scat. Luckily the day flew by perfectly. We treated 611 patients and 47 people professed their faith.
The medical students were back in the examining rooms to watch and learn. Whenever a doctor treated an unusual case he or she would call all the students in to see. The patient would sit there as a crowd asked questions and talked about the problem. One little boy had his ear infection examined by 10 people in a row; he was such a trooper! It was a great learning experience for the students to work alongside doctors and see some of the cases firsthand.
The med students look on as Dr. Chambers shows an ulcer. (You can tell by my face, far left, that I am not as excited)
Eye exams seem to be very popular- luckily we have lots of reading glasses to give. We are flying through our supply of sunglasses.
Diabetes is fairly common down here. Many don’t have access to a healthy diet, supplies or education about the disease. Audrey worked with Michael in ophthalmology today. She told us about a lady with cataracts, “She knew she had diabetes, but she kept saying the problem was her eyes. I was trying to tell her that the diabetes is causing her eye problems.” She went home with a packet of information about diabetes in Spanish.
For dinner we invited all the translators to our hotel for burritos, tacos and tortas. We sat around the pool visiting with them after dinner. These junior high-high school kids are INCREDIBLE! This week would not have been possible without them. They were so patient with us during almost every patient-doctor/dentist interaction. During the clinics they also played guitar and piano for the crowds and us. What a treat! Tonight we found the Lakers/Celtics game on T.V. (FYI most of them are Lakers fans)
Tomorrow is our last day in clinic. We’ll have a half-day and then a closing ceremony before cleaning up and heading out. It will be sad to say goodbye to the generous people of Oasis de Gracia who have been alongside us all day, everyday. Our group is looking forward to a little time on the beach to debrief, reflect and bond. Lincoln couldn’t have said it better: “I feel like I’ve known everyone forever.”
Thanks for the prayers and warm wishes! Here are some more pics from today.
