Saturday, July 6, 2013

Los Torreros!

Today we woke left El Corpus at 5:30am for Los Torreros, a rural, mountainous community about 2 hours away via chicken truck. We set up clinic in an elementary school and got to work by 9. It was an exhausting but fulfilling day as we saw over 60 patients while setting up and taking down a clinic. 

We are now in Choluteca before leaving for Amapala, the beach, for a relaxing few days while waiting on pap results. We will then return to El Corpus to review results and follow-up plans with the residents on Wednesday, inventory clinic supplies on Thursday, and return to community to give back results on Friday. 

This has been a very fulfilling as well as challenging clinic week. We have a number of women who likely have more than mild to moderate dysplasia and we have to grapple with how to ethically and sustainably define our role and scope of practice. We do provide follow-up for several women, 18 last year, who needed it at Ashonplafa, who can facilitate care for early cases. 

We have had meaningful and difficult conversations to our role as an organization with these difficult realities. 

We are grateful we are helping to prevent cervical cancer, provide family planning, and treat acute infections. 

We are proud to have served about 400 women this week and will work hard to close this trip well. 

Dr. Bliss leaves tonight. She has been such an enthusiastic teacher and engaged member of this trip. She has taken time to get to know all the students personally and we are so thankful for her guidance and support. 

More to come from the beach!

Line of women waiting to be seen.
Dr. Bliss and Jackie.
Check-in
Jordy in a one of our makeshift clinic rooms (with a dirty speculum bin...)
Exam room
Taking a break.

No comments:

Post a Comment