The clinic is closed, medicines stocked away, and 287 patients seen in the 6 days of clinic. WOW! That is amazing that we were able to reach out to that number of individuals and to be able to give them some education and resources to prevent illness and maintain health.
Today will be a day of relaxation. We are going to be heading to Antigua and Santiago Zamora. There we will be seeing a Lutheran church and school in Santago Zamora, see the cross on the hill, and tour the city. It will be a day that is much different than the past week. You have to have those days like today.
We are appreciative of the thoughts and prayers that everyone had sent out for us while we have been aaway from our loved ones. We appreciate the prayers for a safe return home. Tomorrow will be a day of travel and won't be back in Chicago until 11pm.
Liz is calling us for breakfast now so it is time to enjoy our final meal prepared by her!
Love to all!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Final Day of Clinic! Where has the time gone!
Little by little we are all rolling out of bed for another amazing day of providing simple healthcare and education to the people of Guatemala. Liz, Dr. Elry's wife, is cooking in the kitchen and soon enough, it will be breakfast time.
Yesterday was a great day because we saw about 40-45 patients. One of the kids that Ernie and I saw was a 14yo girl who said that she was "bitten by a dog" and lets say I am sure the dogs here are not vaccinated. When she came into our room and we asked here to show us, she pulled up her pants leg and the backside of her knee was so severely infected because she had scabies horribly that she must have been scratching and scratching that it was infected. Of course, we pulled Dr. Elry into our room because he is going o have to follow-up with her. She is going to need to talk with family and friends to find out whose dog it was so that they can watch it for sign of rabies. When Dr. Elry explained to her that we need to treat the scabies first and what the possibilities are if they don't find out whose dog it was, she became very teary. Amazing that many of these children will go to the doctor without their mother or father. Understandably they must be at work but how can you effectively educate the population and expect that a child will remember everything that we are telling them when this is something that the parent would be educated on as well. How different our worlds are!
Around 10:30am we closed the clinic for about an hour and went to the school with Dr. Elry to educate on toothbrushing and oral hygiene. The kids absolutely loved it! They were very excited to show us that they know what to do with the toothbrushes and the little bit of English that they do know. It is a cool experience!
We returned back to the clinic and saw a few more patients just before lunch and then enjoyed another meal prepared by Liz. She is wonderful! After lunch we attempted to take a small siesta but the sun and the wind, was too much not to enjoy.
The rest of the day was really uneventful. We enjoyed some relaxation time, a great meal, and another game of Phase 10. Even though the directions say a maximum of 6 players, it does work with 7 players. The bond that we have formed with the group is awesome and is making this experience a memorable one.
It is time for breakfast but we will update you this evening on our final adventure here in Salitre. We are all looking forward to returning home and sharing this experience with or loved ones and the many friends that we have back in the states. Thank you for your contined support and prayers, and we look forward to our return.
Love to all!
Yesterday was a great day because we saw about 40-45 patients. One of the kids that Ernie and I saw was a 14yo girl who said that she was "bitten by a dog" and lets say I am sure the dogs here are not vaccinated. When she came into our room and we asked here to show us, she pulled up her pants leg and the backside of her knee was so severely infected because she had scabies horribly that she must have been scratching and scratching that it was infected. Of course, we pulled Dr. Elry into our room because he is going o have to follow-up with her. She is going to need to talk with family and friends to find out whose dog it was so that they can watch it for sign of rabies. When Dr. Elry explained to her that we need to treat the scabies first and what the possibilities are if they don't find out whose dog it was, she became very teary. Amazing that many of these children will go to the doctor without their mother or father. Understandably they must be at work but how can you effectively educate the population and expect that a child will remember everything that we are telling them when this is something that the parent would be educated on as well. How different our worlds are!
Around 10:30am we closed the clinic for about an hour and went to the school with Dr. Elry to educate on toothbrushing and oral hygiene. The kids absolutely loved it! They were very excited to show us that they know what to do with the toothbrushes and the little bit of English that they do know. It is a cool experience!
We returned back to the clinic and saw a few more patients just before lunch and then enjoyed another meal prepared by Liz. She is wonderful! After lunch we attempted to take a small siesta but the sun and the wind, was too much not to enjoy.
The rest of the day was really uneventful. We enjoyed some relaxation time, a great meal, and another game of Phase 10. Even though the directions say a maximum of 6 players, it does work with 7 players. The bond that we have formed with the group is awesome and is making this experience a memorable one.
It is time for breakfast but we will update you this evening on our final adventure here in Salitre. We are all looking forward to returning home and sharing this experience with or loved ones and the many friends that we have back in the states. Thank you for your contined support and prayers, and we look forward to our return.
Love to all!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Day Two of Salitre!
We are getting ready to eat another breakfast after a great night sleep and some intense games of Phase 10 last night. We did invent an 11th Phase or Bonus round. It was rather entertaining!
Yesterday was a productive day in the clinic, Ernie and I saw the kids and a handful of adults and I have to say, the kids are actually looking a bit healthier this year. We didn't see anything really out of the ordinay but a lot of kids with a chronic cough, poor feeding, and diarrhea. The most prevalent diagnosis for them would be parasites because of their water source. As I had stated in a previous post, the majority of the families here in Salitre have to drink the same water that they bathe in, wash their clothes in, and do their dishes in, unless they have enough money to buy bottled water from a man on a bike with a giant basket on the front. That is not cheap either so most of them will drink the water from the lake. I think we saw about 40 - 50 people yesterday from 8am to 4pm. It was a great day!
An now for a a report from the adult clinic perspective; on to you Jenny!
Hi everyone. Today I got to work with Dr. Elry and we saw the adult patients. Many of them have the same types of health problems as the patients I see in the US. He is a very compassionate person and really incorporates his spirituality into the care of his patients. You can tell they all love him and appreciate what he does here. He is an excellent teacher as well. Between his broken English and what I can understand in Spanish we got along quite well yesterday. He taught us a lot about what the health care system is like here in Guatemala. We should all be thankful for what we have even though it is not perfect either. I ended up as Dr. Elry's interpreter to the group for a while last night while he explained their system to us. I am looking forward to another day at the clinic today. Now on to Bev. . . .
I have been helping Beth in the pharmacy. Yesterday Samuel the son studying sports kinesiology brought us a mortar and pestle to crush pills because we had been using a pen that looked like a femur bone to crush. I also used one of Liz kitchen knives to cut pills in half for the children's Tylenol. We ran out of liquid. Beth is really good with her Spanish in giving directions and when we run into trouble Samuel would help us until he had to go to class later in the afternoon. After clinic we spent some time with the children before they left and so I helped some with puzzles and before they left I received 3 kisses on the cheek. It has been a wonderful experience. I now have compassion for pharmacists. Now it is time to start another day.
God bless our day. Bev
Yesterday was a productive day in the clinic, Ernie and I saw the kids and a handful of adults and I have to say, the kids are actually looking a bit healthier this year. We didn't see anything really out of the ordinay but a lot of kids with a chronic cough, poor feeding, and diarrhea. The most prevalent diagnosis for them would be parasites because of their water source. As I had stated in a previous post, the majority of the families here in Salitre have to drink the same water that they bathe in, wash their clothes in, and do their dishes in, unless they have enough money to buy bottled water from a man on a bike with a giant basket on the front. That is not cheap either so most of them will drink the water from the lake. I think we saw about 40 - 50 people yesterday from 8am to 4pm. It was a great day!
An now for a a report from the adult clinic perspective; on to you Jenny!
Hi everyone. Today I got to work with Dr. Elry and we saw the adult patients. Many of them have the same types of health problems as the patients I see in the US. He is a very compassionate person and really incorporates his spirituality into the care of his patients. You can tell they all love him and appreciate what he does here. He is an excellent teacher as well. Between his broken English and what I can understand in Spanish we got along quite well yesterday. He taught us a lot about what the health care system is like here in Guatemala. We should all be thankful for what we have even though it is not perfect either. I ended up as Dr. Elry's interpreter to the group for a while last night while he explained their system to us. I am looking forward to another day at the clinic today. Now on to Bev. . . .
I have been helping Beth in the pharmacy. Yesterday Samuel the son studying sports kinesiology brought us a mortar and pestle to crush pills because we had been using a pen that looked like a femur bone to crush. I also used one of Liz kitchen knives to cut pills in half for the children's Tylenol. We ran out of liquid. Beth is really good with her Spanish in giving directions and when we run into trouble Samuel would help us until he had to go to class later in the afternoon. After clinic we spent some time with the children before they left and so I helped some with puzzles and before they left I received 3 kisses on the cheek. It has been a wonderful experience. I now have compassion for pharmacists. Now it is time to start another day.
God bless our day. Bev
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Ready! Set! Go!
We have arrived at Amatitlan or should say, Salitre. Salitre is a tiny tin, literally tin, village on Lake Amatitlan. This village is one of the many impoverished villages in the country. This village is completely made of corrigated tin pieces that are somehow secured together and this is what they call home. They are everywhere!!! There are approximatey 2000 people living in a one-half square mile area. Tiny area for a lot of people!
Just learned a bit more about Guatemala today from Dr. Elry, the physician that we will be working with while here in Salitre. The government of Guatemala is democratic and just recently had their election for President. The population of Guatemala is about 13 million people and about half of them are under the age of 15 years old. The grade that most children will make it to if they attend school will be sixth grade here and then have to travel to Amatitlan for the other 3 years. Yes, they only have 9 grades and then if they choose to continue, they can specialize in secretary school, teacher, or pre-university studies. Many of them will not be continuing past 9th grade. The infant mortality rate is very high being 1:5 infants will die before they are 5 years of age from dehydration and/or respiratory complications. This is why we are here in Salitre. To help provide some basic education about overall health maintenance and illness prevention. The simplest education can help them in so many ways. Salitre itself is full of poverty and many families are unable to obtain clean drinking water or enough food for the family. This village is made up of people who have migrated to this area after a Canadian railroad company deserted the railroad tracks that are still present today. These people were looking for a place to call home. Granted they have no electricity, unless it is tapped into illegally. They have no running water, so they have to walk to Lake Amatitlan, which is about a quarter mile from their homes, in order to bath, wash clothes, or wash dishes. They also obtain their drinking water from the lake unless they have 250 Quetzales or about $30 to buy a 10 gallon jug of water from a man who rides around with a bike and a basket on the front filled with these jugs. Unreal!!! Be glad for our water source because trust me, if you could see the water, I don't know what I would do.
After arriving in Salitre, Dr. Elry helped us get everything into the house that we are staying at and then took us on a small tour of this village and to meet a couple of the families that we will be involved with over the next couple days. Many families happy to see us because right now, Dr. Elry only comes to this village twice a week to see patients.
Once we returned from our tour of Salitre, we got to work. We were able to get everything organized and put in its place and cleaned up in order for us to begin providing the best care that we can, with the resources that we have. Please keep everyone in your prayers!
Now we are getting ready to hit the hay for the night because it has been a long day already with travel, meeting families, setting up the clinic, and enjoying a great meal made by Dr. Elry's wife, Liz. We are very fortunate to have two wonderul people to work with and to be able to make a difference to an extent that is realistic.
Good night to all and look forward to updating you tomorrow of our adventures!
Just learned a bit more about Guatemala today from Dr. Elry, the physician that we will be working with while here in Salitre. The government of Guatemala is democratic and just recently had their election for President. The population of Guatemala is about 13 million people and about half of them are under the age of 15 years old. The grade that most children will make it to if they attend school will be sixth grade here and then have to travel to Amatitlan for the other 3 years. Yes, they only have 9 grades and then if they choose to continue, they can specialize in secretary school, teacher, or pre-university studies. Many of them will not be continuing past 9th grade. The infant mortality rate is very high being 1:5 infants will die before they are 5 years of age from dehydration and/or respiratory complications. This is why we are here in Salitre. To help provide some basic education about overall health maintenance and illness prevention. The simplest education can help them in so many ways. Salitre itself is full of poverty and many families are unable to obtain clean drinking water or enough food for the family. This village is made up of people who have migrated to this area after a Canadian railroad company deserted the railroad tracks that are still present today. These people were looking for a place to call home. Granted they have no electricity, unless it is tapped into illegally. They have no running water, so they have to walk to Lake Amatitlan, which is about a quarter mile from their homes, in order to bath, wash clothes, or wash dishes. They also obtain their drinking water from the lake unless they have 250 Quetzales or about $30 to buy a 10 gallon jug of water from a man who rides around with a bike and a basket on the front filled with these jugs. Unreal!!! Be glad for our water source because trust me, if you could see the water, I don't know what I would do.
After arriving in Salitre, Dr. Elry helped us get everything into the house that we are staying at and then took us on a small tour of this village and to meet a couple of the families that we will be involved with over the next couple days. Many families happy to see us because right now, Dr. Elry only comes to this village twice a week to see patients.
Once we returned from our tour of Salitre, we got to work. We were able to get everything organized and put in its place and cleaned up in order for us to begin providing the best care that we can, with the resources that we have. Please keep everyone in your prayers!
Now we are getting ready to hit the hay for the night because it has been a long day already with travel, meeting families, setting up the clinic, and enjoying a great meal made by Dr. Elry's wife, Liz. We are very fortunate to have two wonderul people to work with and to be able to make a difference to an extent that is realistic.
Good night to all and look forward to updating you tomorrow of our adventures!
Amatitlan! Here we come!
We had a good nights sleep on our last night here in Gualan, had a great breakfast as usual, and now are packing the bus with all of our supplies for a 4 hour trek to Amatitlan.
Not really going to be a hectic day, as far as I am aware of but we will see once we meet up with Dr. Elry in Guatemala City while enroute to Amatitlan. Wondering what else the day will bring? I guess we will find out once we arrive in Guatemala City.
Once we get settled in Amatitlan, we will update the blog on our travels and plans for th following day.
Pray for safe travels and passing along much love to all!
Not really going to be a hectic day, as far as I am aware of but we will see once we meet up with Dr. Elry in Guatemala City while enroute to Amatitlan. Wondering what else the day will bring? I guess we will find out once we arrive in Guatemala City.
Once we get settled in Amatitlan, we will update the blog on our travels and plans for th following day.
Pray for safe travels and passing along much love to all!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Saturday's Blog
Ok, I got voted to be tonight's author, so here we go. Just a warning we are playing a card game, Phase 10 as I write, and card games on this trip have been, bitter. Revenge is winning games on this trip !
Very good day today ! Back up on the mountain and saw just over 6o patients. By previous standards that is very low. Maybe it was due to it being a Saturday but less customers today. We did plenty of work today, fortunately not overwhelmed. Now this is my 3rd time up the La Union mountain and I certainly see differences, Joy who has been here twice before also agrees. Kids look healthier and happier than what we saw year 1. Back then every kid looked miserable, malnoursihed, full of scabies and other skin infections. This year many more healthy looking kids. Yes, still seeing those who look like malnourished 3rd world kids but so many seem much better. Lots of mission trips have come up this way, housing, sanitation, medical, and maybe the crops are giving more jobs, but there really is a difference. And how nice to see that !!!! Joy, who is also on trip #3 with me here agrees. So seing progress makes me feel so good ! Don't be fooled, still very 3rd world and we are seeing things that one would not imagine back home. Hungry, barefoot, tattered clothes kids living in dirt floor shacks, post trauma patients with absolutely no rehab, post mastectomy women with horrendous outcomes, ....1 person and 1 team can only do so much, but when multiple teams intervene and you return a few times you can start to see hope. I am so happy to be part of this with such great people with me and such great support from home !
update on the game, I just won the last 2 games and Jeremy is bitter. We can really use a reading of The Hungry Catepillar right now to calm things down a bit !
Hey did I ever tell you about the roads here ? well, they want to resemble roads but they really are not. YIKES. dirt roads winding up the mountain sides too narrow for 1 van or truck much less 2 approachingeach other....coffee plants and a barbed wire fence will not prevent one of them from toppling about 5000 feet down. It really gets nauseating and scary, takes over a 1/2 hour, wow...why do I keep doing this ? At least now the rest of the trip is at level surface ! I asked our driver today, "Sponge Bob", how he became such a good driver...his day job is a taxista. Thank God someone has the nerves of steel and skills to get us up and down safely ! My photos do it no justice. Scary roads but the scenery is amazing
They told us not to go out at night but this evening we took a walking tour of Gualan, escorted by the hotel's chef, "Geronimo". How cool to see Guate at night. Almost everyone knew Mr G and it made the walk around Gualan so entertaining !
Tomorrow we are off to Amatitlan, gonna be a long long drive. We'll meet up with Dr Elry and his family and spend the next 4 days working at the Holy Cross Clinic. Set in an absolutely impoverished area but alongside Lake Amatitlan, gorgeous views. Last year this area was hit hard with flooding so we'll see how things are now. Very desperate people last year and I am sure the same again. But this team is cooking and ready to deliver our best ! What a great idea to bring a pharmacist with us this year, Beth has been so amazingly efficient at running the pharmacy the last 2 days.
OK we are up and going at 6:30 AM tomorrow so I am off to sleep. Thank you for your prayers and please keep them coming, we have lots more work and lots more travel ahead of us
Ernie
Very good day today ! Back up on the mountain and saw just over 6o patients. By previous standards that is very low. Maybe it was due to it being a Saturday but less customers today. We did plenty of work today, fortunately not overwhelmed. Now this is my 3rd time up the La Union mountain and I certainly see differences, Joy who has been here twice before also agrees. Kids look healthier and happier than what we saw year 1. Back then every kid looked miserable, malnoursihed, full of scabies and other skin infections. This year many more healthy looking kids. Yes, still seeing those who look like malnourished 3rd world kids but so many seem much better. Lots of mission trips have come up this way, housing, sanitation, medical, and maybe the crops are giving more jobs, but there really is a difference. And how nice to see that !!!! Joy, who is also on trip #3 with me here agrees. So seing progress makes me feel so good ! Don't be fooled, still very 3rd world and we are seeing things that one would not imagine back home. Hungry, barefoot, tattered clothes kids living in dirt floor shacks, post trauma patients with absolutely no rehab, post mastectomy women with horrendous outcomes, ....1 person and 1 team can only do so much, but when multiple teams intervene and you return a few times you can start to see hope. I am so happy to be part of this with such great people with me and such great support from home !
update on the game, I just won the last 2 games and Jeremy is bitter. We can really use a reading of The Hungry Catepillar right now to calm things down a bit !
Hey did I ever tell you about the roads here ? well, they want to resemble roads but they really are not. YIKES. dirt roads winding up the mountain sides too narrow for 1 van or truck much less 2 approachingeach other....coffee plants and a barbed wire fence will not prevent one of them from toppling about 5000 feet down. It really gets nauseating and scary, takes over a 1/2 hour, wow...why do I keep doing this ? At least now the rest of the trip is at level surface ! I asked our driver today, "Sponge Bob", how he became such a good driver...his day job is a taxista. Thank God someone has the nerves of steel and skills to get us up and down safely ! My photos do it no justice. Scary roads but the scenery is amazing
They told us not to go out at night but this evening we took a walking tour of Gualan, escorted by the hotel's chef, "Geronimo". How cool to see Guate at night. Almost everyone knew Mr G and it made the walk around Gualan so entertaining !
Tomorrow we are off to Amatitlan, gonna be a long long drive. We'll meet up with Dr Elry and his family and spend the next 4 days working at the Holy Cross Clinic. Set in an absolutely impoverished area but alongside Lake Amatitlan, gorgeous views. Last year this area was hit hard with flooding so we'll see how things are now. Very desperate people last year and I am sure the same again. But this team is cooking and ready to deliver our best ! What a great idea to bring a pharmacist with us this year, Beth has been so amazingly efficient at running the pharmacy the last 2 days.
OK we are up and going at 6:30 AM tomorrow so I am off to sleep. Thank you for your prayers and please keep them coming, we have lots more work and lots more travel ahead of us
Ernie
La Avanzada, Here we come: The Sequel
We all seemed to have had a great night of sleep with some great reflection of what yesterday brought us. All we have to say is WOW!!! We just ate another wonderful breakfast and are getting ourselves ready to head out to provide some simple medical care to those who are in need of it, find some formula, and get a good look at this newborn who will be just one day old. I am really curious as to how mom is doing and what they were able to do for her. Keep her in your prayers as well as the newborn and the rest of the family.
We are going to be heading out but look forward to giving you all an update of what today brings. Who knows what to expect because obviously yesterday was a day that we were not expecting.
We are going to be heading out but look forward to giving you all an update of what today brings. Who knows what to expect because obviously yesterday was a day that we were not expecting.
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