"What a Day!"

Day One down and 4 more clinic days to go. What a day!!!! That pretty much explains it all. We didn't get to La Avanzada until about 9:30am but we were able to establish our clinic and pharmacy in a quick fashion. When we arrived, there were a few people waiting outside the clinic to be seen. Once we figured out how we wanted to see everyone and how we wanted to dispense medictions, it made everything progress smootly. Granted we did have our "bumps" but nothing terrible.

The day progressed, seeing the same kinds of patients that we saw last year. Coughs, fevers, and generalized aches and pains was the prevalent complaint. We could definately take care of them. Then there was a woman who came in, she knew the man who was helping us register patients, who had some blood sugar complaints from the last time there was a group who came to La Avanzada. He approached me and asked if we were able to check her blood sugar and I said, "Of course!" She then later came to the clinic and we checked her blood sugar and found it to be quite elevated. She had not been on any medications previously so we started her on some thing to help bring that to a more normal level. She has been able to check her blood sugar in the past but needed more supplies, so we were able to provide these supplies to her as well.

After we saw this woman, we thought that we were completed for the day but then another individual was brought to our attention. This man had fallen out of a tree while trimming it about a year and a half ago. He sustained severe injuries where he needed multiple surgeries as well as sustaining a spinal cord injury. He is currently a paraplegic and is in need of a wheel chair. His family and friends created a wheelchair out of a plastic patio chair and some wheel chair wheels. WOW! What creativity they have in order to create this assistive device with what they had. Over the past few months his chair broke and has been bedridden since. So we were asked to go and assess him to determine if he had any needs that we could assist with. Ernie, Joyce, and Jenny went to this man's home. Upon arrival at his home, they found him to be in really good spirits considering the circumstances. They completed their assessment and found him to be in better shape than they were anticipating. We were able to provide him with some materials to help with the healing process of his bed sore on his buttocks. Joyce was able to provide some education with his wife to do this properly. We are looking at connecting with the Rehab Nurses Association in Wisconsin to provide him with a real wheelchair and hopefully the costruction team will be able to bring that down with them. Say A Prayer!

After the team returned from his home, we started to pack things us so that we could return to Gualan for the night, yet another situation came to light. There was a woman who delivered a baby earlier this morning but was brought to our attention this afternoon that she was having some difficulty. Ernie, Jenny, and, I went to the home of the new mother and found her to be in great distress. The infant was doing very well and nursing but found that mom was in distress and discomfort. We appropriately assessed the two and agreed as a team that mom needed to be transported to a hospital because of the situation. We informed the family of this need and why, and agreed to call the ambulance. While we waited for the ambulance crew, we were able to provide mom with some pain medication and antibiotics, as well as support for the time being. Once the crew arrived we were able to get mom transferred to the cot and had to carry her up the hill in order to get her to the ambulance. We loaded her into the ambulance and off they went to the hospital. Now our concern was for the infant, "What was she going to eat until mom returns? When was mom going to return?" We as a team did some brainstorming and thought about giving the family some rehydration packets. This had enough sugar in it for the baby to continue to be active and not get dehydrated. We took this to the family and educated them on how to use it, what to watch for, and encouraged them to bring the new baby to the clinic so that we can do an appropriate assessment of her condition in the morning. We also came up with the idea that we would go and find some formula since we have no idea when mom will return.

Before we return to Gualan for dinner, we needed to stop at a pharmacy in La Union to pick up some other necessities for us. Neither of the pharmacies had formula to purchase. We are going to have to stop in Gualan in the morning to find some. Please pray that we will be able to locate some. (That is for you Joy!)

We finally returned to Miravalle Hotel after a long day, and were welcomed with a wonderful meal and hospitality. Now we are going to continue to have a bit of relaxation before heading to be. Tomorrow we will hopefully be able to reach out to another 70 patients and be able to bring some comfort to the community.

To this end, we will be logging off for the night and look forward to updating you of our adventures tomorrow. Take care and Good night!

[This road picture is from a previous trip, but will give blog readers an idea of what the La Avanzada community is like. lmn :) ]