What a busy day! Started the day off with a cold shower and ten seconds of warm water. As this is the first time with a big group and a generator we found out today that the widow makers for the showers actually take too much electricity in order to work. They had known that which is why they have a generator but now they know even with the generator it requires more electricity. So the degraded to a lesser model of the widow maker so we have Luke warm showers versus cold showers. A widow maker is a hot water heater on the shower head. It has exposed wires at the top, so it is named widow maker due to men touching the wires while showering and being electrocuted. I'm sure it wasn't just men but I don't think widower maker is as catchy. :)
Anyways I have finally memorized the whole GCU groups names. I still have to think about but I eventually say them correctly. We still had all of them wear name tags so we could call them by their names and there is just so many of them for everyone else to remember their names! We have one guy who decided to write his name in espanol, which is Tomas with an accent but he was going around with out the accent for an hour which means "he drinks", once we realized we all had a good laugh!
Our first clinic brigade was in Delores. In medical I had students who are pre-med or nursing to help me. Between the doctor, an Honduran medical student, and we had three stations for medical. So we had one GCU studs bat each station then I had them rotate after lunch so they could experience more of it. I try to have them sit with me so they can hear the English translation of he medical questions and complaints. Today we had some interesting cases. We a had a child who had a lump under his chin that has been there for 2 months. It gave home some pain and he actually had an appointment at the hospital the next day for tests. Dra. Gladys and I believe it is a strain of lymphoma, which is not good outcome. The students kept asking me what I did for the child; I prescribed Tylenol for the pain of the lump. They could not believe that is all I could do. And it is just one of the things that shocked them. This brigade was held in a school while school was gong on. So the students were allowed to participate. So several children checked themselves in with their complaints of cold, cough, and fever and were treated accordingly. Many just received vitamins, yet some were actually sick and required antibiotics for their ails. Dental saw it too, children checking in for a bad tooth, and on the brigades we do not do preventive dental we just pull teeth. GCU students were amazed that a seven year old would take themselves to the doctor many of them would have not think of going to the doctor with out their parents. We also have two women come with lumps in those breasts. We then told them to go to the hospital for the mammograms and biopsy. The only problem is financial for most of the people, the hospitals tend to have them prepay before they receive the tests. I felt sluggish as I saw patients trying to remember what to ask and what to prescribe, but I prevailed! I feel myself doing more and more teaching. I taught them the non pharmaceutical treatments because they tend to only receive 30 day supply of medications. And if it is a chronic problem it will be with them for the whole year.
All in all it was a successful day. The students are having tons of fun and I had to have a talk with them.
Because I was not involve with their training I did not know if there things that had been talked about. So we had a talk tonight. I had to explain to them what was in a GO bag. They have been asking last night what they should take, I had mentioned their water bottles and what they may need for the day. What I found was that I always pack things and I tend to forget that I pack some things automatically. So we went over the basics. Always pack toilet paper, wet wipes/ hand sanitizer, food, money, and meds. Some of them this is their first trip they didn't know I just felt so bad I wasn't able to tell them before we left AZ.
Stan has been a great encourager. I am so glad he is here to mentor and encourage the GCU students. Well on to tomorrow. I am trying to figure out how to post pictures....
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