We ate breakfast at 6:30 and headed out to the community where we will be working, which took about an hour and a half to drive there. We then split into two groups and walked around different parts talking with various families, seeing their houses, where they get water or use the bathroom, etc. In a lot of ways it's pretty similar to a remote village in Africa, and I was just discussing with some of the kids here as they asked to compare it to Africa, that it's the same in that there are very poor and very wealthy, with no in between. And you see that pretty evidently. You have the people who do business and fly back and forth to the States, and those that can barely afford to feed their families. Tomorrow will be better for comparing as I'll see patients in the clinic.
We did see one patient today, an elderly woman about 77 years old (we think), who had fallen and injured her arm about 10 days ago. Dr. Pilch and I went into see her and found that she had broken her distal humerus. Not having anyway to really image her (I need to get a portable ultrasound machine....) we tried to reduce it, but it was too painful for her. We are having her brought to the clinic tomorrow and will reduce and splint it then. We have some pain medication that we can give her and inject some lidocaine into the area and regionally numb her up. Then I'll try to reduce the fracture as best I can and we will put her in a splint that we made today out of cardboard, duct-tape, and gauze (see picture....worked out pretty well). If you can believe it, I had two slings sitting in my bag prior to leaving and said, "I won't need these," and took them out.....dang it, really wish I had those. I'll have to just make one now too.
We came back and started working on separating the medications and supplies that we will have for the next few days of clinic. The pharmacist, Dr. Erica, and her assistant, Catalina, are fantastic. They really know their stuff and everything that they have in stock, what dosages, and the first line treatments for the diseases that they use in Honduras. Dr. Pilch and I were pleasantly surprised. We have a good amount and will be able to treat most things we will see here, or make due with what we have when needed. The college kids counted out various medications like Aspirin into 3 month supplies that we can use to quickly hand out at the pharmacy. The pharmacist also said that for kids all we have to do is tell her what medication we want and she will calculate the dosage based on their weight for us. That will definitely speed things up. Considering the 3 of us are planning to see 300 patients between the hours of 9:30-4pm (max time I think there), it's gonna be pretty fast paced. I'm excited and a bit nervous, but I'm sure after the first bit of time I'll warm up to it and do just fine. I'll have two students with me shadowing as well, so it's a bit of a weird feeling. Not too long ago that I was in their position.
We are just chilling out for the remainder of the night and getting ready for tomorrow, so that's about it. Food as always is pretty great - tostadas for lunch and the fruit (papaya, mango, pineapple) is absolutely fantastic. We did make some s'mores tonight as well....I brought everything needed, included a lighter and some sticks, so I roasted marshmallows over the lighter. Everyone had a good kick out of it and I told them "I come prepared."
I'll post some pictures from around the community when I'm back. I need to figure out a way to transfer them from my camera to my iPad easier so I can post them while on these trips....not that the internet could really handle it anyway though. Thanks for reading as always! Stay cool!
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