My First Medical Brigade

Monday March 15th 2010 2:20pm

Saturday

After Elmer, Marisela, and Fausto picked me up, we made our way to Monte Carmelo to meet Rueben who was going to drive a school bus to SPS to help pick up supplies that the medical brigade would need.

When we got to Monte Carmelo, the hood of the bus was up, and Rueben was hard at work trying to get the engine to start. It was out of gas. I had never witnessed syphoning of gasoline before, but watching Rueben spit the gas out as it poured from the hose into his mouth almost made me sick. I gave him some gum.

After a little while, we were on the road to SPS, and I was excited to lay back and take a nice long nap. Half an hour into the drive, Marisela turned around and nudged me awake. Elmer was tired and didn't feel like driving, so I had to drive the rest of the way there. We pulled over to switch drivers, and I tried not to be too grumpy. It was pretty earlier in the morning, and we had no coffee!

Roughly five hours later, we rolled into the SPS airport, and waited for the medical brigade to arrive. The 11 members were coming in on three different flights all landing within an hour and a half of one another. The timing worked out excellently, as one group after another appeared through the customs gates, and there was hardly any waiting time at all.

The group consisted of one director, three doctors, two dentists, two dental assistants, two nurses, and one pharmacist. One of the dentists was from New Castle, England and one of the nurses was from Alberta, Canada. The rest of the group hailed from all over the US ranging from Arizona all the way to Connecticut. Most everyone had been on a Medico (the name of the organization) trip before, and a few had even been on a couple of trips together.

We ate lunch at the airport, and we sat around getting to know one another better. I sat towards the end of the table and got to talk with the pharmacist, Linh, and the dentist from the states, Dick. Dick reminded me of Ed Asner, and was very easy to talk to, full of jokes, and had been going on at least one trip per year to Central America since 1990. Linh had flown in with Dick, and told me about her world travels, her previous trip with Medico, and how she had only just decided to come three days before.

After lunch, we headed over to a warehouse and loaded up nearly a school bus full of medical supplies. Elmer kindly offered to drive back to Tegucigalpa, and the group split up seating arrangements between the van and the bus. I got to sit in the back of the van, and get to know most of the rest of the group. Everyone was very excited, experienced, and very open to how much an experience like the one that they were about to have was going to change them, even if they had already made dozens of similar trips.

By the time we got back to Monte Carmelo, I was really excited about this group, and kind of sad that I wouldn't be able to spend the whole week working with them. We ate dinner and discussed plans for the next day before heading to bed. Everyone was asleep and snoring before their heads even hit the pillow.


Sunday

Breakfast was served promptly at 7:00am, and everyone was surprisingly punctual. I had gotten very used to Honduran time, and forgot that we were working with medical staff from the US. The food was good, and when we finished, half of the group loaded up onto the bus, while the other half braved the van. I considered it braving the van because Elmer had gone home the night before, which left me behind the wheel.

In an hour we were at Monte Horeb in Talanga, safe, sound, and ready to unload baggage so we could continue on to El Porvenir to start our work. With the luggage off of the bus, we all fit, and were soon on our way to El Porvenir.

I guess I didn't really know what to expect, but what happened out there was not what I had expected. When we pulled into the medical center to start setting up, there was already a line out of the door of sick people. When I say that there were sick people, I mean that the majority of these people had visible ailments that were often disturbing to see. There were children with hideous rashes, mothers with blackened teeth, fathers with fungal diseases and spots all over their bodies. I don't think that I was very prepared for what I saw there, but quickly got used to the situation.

Children ran up to help us unload the bus, and soon we were setting up shelves and medications in the area designated as the pharmacy. The dentists set up their chairs, stools and work stations, while the doctors met with their translators and got accustomed to their work stations. I was assigned to work with one of the nurses and the pharmacist in the pharmacy, translating dosages and instructions to those who needed medicine.

We finished setting everything up just in time for lunch, and after a quick meal of spaghetti, everyone quickly got to work. Without any prescriptions to fill until the doctors had finished with their patients, I was left with some time to visit with Linh and the nurse for a while and practiced words like "dropper full", "scabies", "tube", and "hemorrhoid cream." I was ready.

Although there was never a long line at the pharmacy, there was a continual flow, and we were on our feet counting pills, filling prescriptions, and handing out medication to patients for about six hours or so. When I say that "we" did those things, I mean that I translated and sometimes got bags ready, while the real trained professionals did the real work. As I worked with them, they started to show me where things were, how to count pills, the way to fill orders, and general ways to help out.

Of the three groups that I have worked with to date, this easily had the most instant gratifcation. I was able to hand out medicine to people who needed it, and could see the faces of mothers light up when their kids got anti-bacterial, or anti-parasite medication. They even smiled and were grateful when all we could give their children for a diagnosis of "club foot" was vitamins.

Every once in a while, I had to run over to the dentist station to do some translations there, and every time was mortified just walking in the room. Dick had me translate to a 29 year old woman that he was going to have to pull 26 of her teeth, but that he couldn't do them all in one day, and that he would do half today and half tomorrow. Bill, the dentist from England, had me explain that the abscess they found on the one tooth pulled was about the size of a pea, and that they were going to have to examine the other teeth to make sure that they were okay to leave in.

In the pharmacy, things ran very smoothly, and both Linh and the nurse absolutely loved when anyone came in needing vaginal cream and needing me to translate for them. One time, Linh mistakenly read a doctor's scribbled handwriting and filled a prescription for a urinary tract infection. Not knowing how to say this correctly, I explained to the woman that the medicine was for the "infection of urination" and her wide eyes and confused face told me something wasn't right. Upon double checking with the doctor, we found out that the woman had been diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection. The situation was only slightly embarassing.

We worked until it was too dark to see the medicines, and then packed up to go. We had to wait for Bill who was in the middle of removing four teeth from a ten year old girl. It was Bill's first trip to do dentist work in a developing country, and when we got back on the bus, he told me about how much his work, especially with the last girl really effected him. He said it was kind of hard to describe, but I understood what he meant.

Back in Talanga, we got together to eat, and everyone shared about their day. It was really interesting hearing about the doctor's experiences, compared to those of the translators, and those of the dentists. Apparently it is held that the dentists are really the ones who do the most good, as they difinitively remove infections, and disease from hundreds of people every trip. The doctors discussed some of their more eccentric cases, and we got to share about our UTI/upper respiratory infection mix up.

After dinner, it was time for me to get back to Tegucigalpa, and I reluctantly bid adieu to an incredibly charismatic group of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and assistants. I really wish I could have spent more time with them.

I got back to Tegucigalpa around 11:00, and headed straight to bed.


Monday

Today I've been getting everything ready for my trip back to the States tomorrow. Packing, emptying my fridge, organizing the apartment, sending emails, and finishing up some translations for the office have taken up most of my day. There are still a few things to do before I leave tomorrow, and I'll probably spend most of the rest of the day checking and double checking to make sure I don't leave anything behind, which I usually do anyway.

Although I'm disappointed that I couldn't spend more time with the medical group, I am really looking forward to being back in Cincinnati tomorrow night.