Sunday, March 20, 2011

Trip home

After a nice breakfast and last minute packing we headed to the airport in Guatemala City. It was another long day. We arrived safely back in Wilmington around 11:30 PM last night.

Many thanks to Alice and Tom who generously gave their time, worked hard and were so helpful throughout our trip. Thanks to Alice's students back home who donated 140 lbs of toothpaste, toothbrushes, soaps, etc. A special thank you and get well soon to Nora (wonderful friend), who always wants us to use her property for the clinic and cares so much for the most needy in her country of El Salvador. Thanks to the UNCW School of Nursing faculty, students and staff who generously contributed clothes, materials, medications and other supplies to this trip. Also, thanks to our friends at USAID who helped us with logistics in Guatemala - Nancy, Gladys and Isabel!!  UEES, our affiliate university in El Salvador, did a good job in helping with transportation throughout our stay in El Salvador and to the clinics each day. It was good to visit again the School of Nursing faculty and students. Thanks to Ruben, our driver,  friend and clinic worker. Most important, thanks to the UNCW students who chose to spend their spring vacation providing much needed health care to the five communities in El Salvador. They worked hard and truly made a difference!! Finally, thanks to the Mary Lynn Richardson Fund for their generous gift to help support our clinic and the Salvadorans in the communities we serve.  Much thanks to everyone!!

Will post more pictures in the next few days. Thanks for following our blog!!

Jane

Friday, March 18, 2011

Our last day!!

We were busy yesterday with no time to blog!! It is often difficult to get Internet access.

Thursday- - Our first stop was Hospital Roosevelt. It is a public 1000 bed hospital - the largest in Central America. We were met by a USAID rep and learned  a bit about the health care system in Guatemala. The country spends 1.2% of their gross national product on health care - very little when the health care needs are so great. We toured the emergency room (there is a separate peds ER which treats over 200 patients a day - many visits due to gunshot wounds).We met several of the head nurses from various in-hospital units, visited the clinics, surgical unit, peds in-patient and the14 bed intensive care unit (ICU).  There most patients were on ventilators and the head nurse informed us they were not sedated. They seemed to be resting comfortably. Amazingly, there is a new unopened  16 bed ICU - it cannot open because the glass in all the rooms is not shatter-proof and the donated beds do not have cranks to change the bed position.

We moved on to the nursing school where there was a large bust of Florence Nightingale. We toured the school and met with the dean.Students must complete high school and pass an entrance exam for admission.   Once admitted to the 5 year program, tuition is free. Also, there is a new program supported by Korea to educate the doulas (Mayan birth attendants) in the countryside.

Next we had lunch, checked out of our hotel, and headed to Antigua Guatemala (about an hour ride) for some much needed rest and relaxation. On our way into the beautiful city we toured a jade factory. Guatemala, and especially Antigua, is known for its beautiful jade.

Our hotel in Antigua is very quaint - only 11 rooms - and decorated typico Guatemalan. It is very comfortable with a small fireplace in each room. We walked around the city and began to learn our way around. Antigua is a beautiful colonial city with cobblestone streets, brightly painted buildings, old churches, fun coffee shops,  reasonably-priced restaurants and great local markets.Most importantly, it is safe.We were joined last evening by Nancy Hoffman (friend) from USAID in Guatemala. She will be staying with us in Antigua.

Today, Friday, has been a day of rest. We all had a nice breakfast.  Everyone went their own way walking and shopping the local craft markets. Several students took a tour up to the volcanoes and will be back to Antigua at 8 tonight - just in time for a farewell dinner!!

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Antigua and Guatemala and begin our travel home!!!

Will post pictures later...Jane

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Wednesday

Hi everyone:

Today we were up early to catch a 6:30 bus to Guatemala. After buying our tickets we learned the bus was full and we would be on the 8 AM bus. It was a comfortable and safe ride which took about 4 1/2 hours.

It was sad to leave the friends we made in El Salvador. Nora, the woman whose beach property we use for our clinics, has been very sick and worries about how her work with the poor will carry on. We will continue to use her property for the coming years to store our supplies and conduct our clinics.  Ruben, our driver, has been great and helped make our trip and clinic the best it could be. He worked with us as we cared for  many Salvadorans. tudents worked exceptionally hard, with translators, volunteers  and community leaders, to provide the only free health care these people have. Everyone left with some clothes, a toothbrush, toothpaste and a toy for each child. We were happy to offer help in any way we could.

We are staying in a very nice hotel and are going to bed early to catch up on some much needed rest. Tomorrow we tour Hospital Roosevelt, the largest hospital in central America. Then it is on to Antigua!!!
More about our travels tomorrow...

Jane

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

More Pictures from Tuesday

Clinic Day 5!

Buenas noches!
We had a very long day today. Starting bright and early, we headed out to the clinics to open nine new boxes that finally arrived! They were full of clothes, shoes, and some much needed medication. Over two hundred patients showed up to see us, so we were very busy! Our assessment skills have very much improved since the beginning, though. We were able to finish and provide everyone with medications, clothing, and shoes by 2:30! We stopped by la Universidad Evangelica de San Salvador to drop off some gifts we got for the students and faculty, and headed to the Love Link nutritional rehabilitation clinic.
The Love Link is an organization set up by a couple from Texas that began in 1987. They take in babies who are severely malnourished and give them nutritional therapy until they meet the desired amount of nutritional status and weight gain. They also educate the parents who want to keep the child about nutritional needs and healthy lifestyles, or find a home for a child whose parents do not want to keep them. We had the pleasure of meeting the husband who helped found Love Link, the staff, and a few of the babies they were caring for today. We all admired the incredible work they do. He showed us pictures of babies before they enter the facility and when they leave. The difference they make in these families´ lives is unbelievable. They can take a baby in whose doctors have given up on them, and send them off as a healthy child!
Once we finished with the tour, we hit up the mall for some comida for the bus ride tomorrow. We are all pooped after five days of clinic! Looking forward to leaving the hotel at 5:30 am for our 4 hour bus ride to Guatemala. WOOP WOOOP!
We miss all of our families and cannot wait to see you guys when we get back!!

<3 Kara

Monday, March 14, 2011

Clinical day 4

Hey y'all! All is great, but unfortunately our internet connection is intermittent. Needless to say, this will be brief! Another great day, caring for sick villagers. We were very limited with supplies, but great news, the embassy called and we received the rest of our boxes with all our antibiotics.
Today we saw a lot of patients with parasites! It was very interesting to actually see the signs and symptoms.
Afterwards, we got the fortunate opportunity to visit one of the 3 volcanos surrounding San salvador. It was absolutely beautiful!
Tomorrow we have quite an eventful day so we are going to turn in early tonight!
Haste maƱana,
Maria

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Clinical Day 3

"Buenos Noches" from El Salvador!  We are definitely completely pooped today!  We saw over 160 patients.
Again we saw alot of "gripe" like symptoms.  The gripe is the flu in spanish.  After three days some of us have become pretty proficient with our Spanish.  It's amazing how much you can learn here; so much more when you are actually immersed in the culture. 
We are having a lot of problems keeping supplies.  We ran out of all our toys for the children, many medications, vitamins, and clothes.  Glasses are a hot commodity here.  There were numerous reading glasses donated.  These glasses were on display by the clothes and it was funny to see how everyone suddenly could not see.  Many pairs were pocketed before we able to control the situation. 
It was very sad to see how we were not able to help people as much as we would like.  We met a lady today with a blood pressure higher than 240/110.  All we could do is give her aspirin.  We found many lumps today, one in a breast and a grapefruit size mass on the bladder.
All the students are pretty amazed with our improvements in our assessments.  Our confidence has increased by leaps and bounds.  It makes a big difference caring for 160 patients in one day versus 1 or 2 patients per day in our normal clinical setting.  Everyone has a different comment on how they have improved identifying problems and abnormalities.  The graduate nurses have been very helpful (Sheila and Allison)!!  They seem to love to teach the nursing students and run the pharmacy.  They are more than willing to help if a consult is needed for a patient.
Alice and Tom are a non medical couple and are extremely helpful!!  Not only do they pass out toys and supplies to the patients but they take care of us as well.  They help prepare lunch for us when we get a break, ensure we are drinking water, and then they bought us an afternoon snack/drink at a beautiful restaurant north of the clinical site.
I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but it had an amazing view of the beach and water.  It was so nice to sit and relax and reflect on the day. We also got to see a lot of surfers.  According to one of our interpretators (who are awesome!) El Salvador is one of the best places to surf in the world.
We are getting ready to rest up because we are supposed to see even more patients tomorrow than today, hasta luego!
Maria

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Pictures

Saturday

We were very grateful that all the people who live on and near the beach in Salvador were safe after the tsunami scare. Today we were able to go back to the clinic and see patients. The community called El Cocal was scheduled to come and we saw about 60 people.  The patients arrived with complaints ranging from a foreign object in a little girl's ear (green crayon), dehydration, asthma, gripe, to arthritis and asthma in the elderly. We are learning how to improvise and use what little supplies and medications we have to be able to help as much as we can.  Simple things that we take for granted such as vitamins are nearly impossible for these people to get. 

Tonight we are going to a restaurant called El Basilea in Zona Rosa.  It is a lovely space with outdoor seating,  gardens and waterfalls.  Tomorrow is shaping up to be another very busy day in the clinic with a whole new community.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Friday

Our day had been planned to visit hospitals with interpreters from the Evangelical University here.  However, at 7AM this mornig, we found out we had been scheduled to do a clinic in La Libertad.  We began our wild rush to get dressed and get to the clinic site.  Once we arrived at the site, we discovered our boxes of supplies were not there!!!  So, we took a few minutes and enjoyed the Pacific.  Once the boxes of supplies arrived, another wild rush to get them unpacked and a "pharmacy" set up.  Then, our awesome bus driver, that can parellel park a bus within centimeters of other cars (whew!), informed us a tsunami was heading our way!  Even though we were quite concerned, we opened the gates for our clinic to begin because we had a line of patients waiting for us.  Quite interesting our day -- no translators -- we relied on lots of body language and our Spanish dictionaries.  Our awesome bus driver, who stays with us all the time, kept us updated on the tsunami as we worked very diligently to see all the patients.  Our great friends we met here helped us get supplies packed up, and we made it off the beach before the tsunami was scheduled to hit.  We made it to Nora's home, who owns the beach property the clinics are held on, and visited for several hours. While there, we were able to watch TV to see all the devastation which happened today in Japan.  :-(  We visited the artisan market here in San Salvador for soveniers, then headed back to the hotel; we're now chillin, tired, and ready for bed.  Goodnight all...   Susan and Ash

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Day 1

We're sitting here in El Salvador after typico comida by the pool (that we can't swim in).  The plane rides over here were uneventful, and we didn't have any problems getting through customs.  After the airport we dropped off our bags at our lovely Hotel Grecia Real.  We were driven over to the Universidad Evangelica de El Salvador to meet up with old friends and receive a tour of their nursing program.  We all decided that the human cadavers and buckets of preserved body parts were awesome!  The students and faculty were lovely and very welcoming.  We're all excited to spend more time with them over the next few days.  After the University we went to get some supplies (bottled water and snacks) at Metro Centro which is a local shopping mall.  We happened to run into the couple that was supposed to meet up with us in one of the aisles... they stood out as did we!  We all trouped back to the hotel.  Some of us decided to take a short nap and others decided to be brave and check out a cute little coffee shop down the street. 
  To recap we made it here safe, and we're having a wonderful time.  The people are wonderful, and we're ready to get some sleep, so we can have another adventure tomorrow.