The team started on day one and held a clinic at Efrain's church and it went well. I must admit, I seriously had my doubts that we could do a decent clinic with only one provider. BUT it worked and it worked well. These people did not all know each other prior to this trip but you couldn't tell by the way they worked together. Everyone fell into place quickly. One nurse with translator truly triaged the patients. She asked pertinent questions and wrote down her thoughts, which cut the time the doctor spent with each patient drastically. Another nurse did all vitals and then they waited to see the doctor. Two other team members kept the children busy at QUIET tables with planned activities and it went well. The pharmacy also had a translator and it went smoothly. Granted, we did pick places in small communities so as to not turn away large crowds of people, but this was a blessing as well, because a few of them had never had a medical brigade before and they were so appreciative.
First "note to self" for me occurred on Friday night. Since we had gone a month without any caffeine, I had a pizza for dinner and had my first pepsi light of the trip back. At 3:00 IN THE MORNING, I was still awake. No more caffeine after 6:00 pm. Man, am I getting old. The second "note to self" occurred last night (Tuesday). We took the team to get baleadas, since most of them did not know what they were. I forgot my "first note to self" because I didn't write it down (hmmmm, lists; they are so important to older people)and ended up getting a pepsi light with dinner since I didn't see any water bottles. Again, up till 4:00 IN THE MORNING. Then, up at 4:45 to get ready for the day because the first clinic was 1 1/2 hours away.sigh........ It is now 8:00 pm and I am ready to crash.
I have been putting my pictures of the children on Facebook, so if you enjoy seeing pictures of kiddos, take a look. If not, don't.
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