I’ll begin with the beginning. I arrived on the island on August 6th, a Saturday. Katie emailed me beforehand and arranged for us to meet at the airport. The flight over wasn’t bad at all; I slept the entire flight. I had some problems in LAX and at Roatan, due to bringing the printer along with me. Thankfully, it arrived with the rest of the baggage and I plopped everything on a cart and went in search of Katie (whom I had never met, didn’t know what she looked like, etc.). I made a lame attempt to Facebook Katie, but she cleverly put a long-distance picture of herself online.
I waited for about an hour at the entrance of the airport. I didn’t feel lost, but I suppose I looked it. The first thing I noticed was the weather. I said, “Wow, Katie, it’s really hot here. The humidity!” She smiled and replied, “Alissa, it’s overcast and pretty cool today.” Ha. The second easiest thing to recognize: the taxi drivers. Katie knew her way around Coxen Hole and West End, so she haggled a bit in Spanish as I stood there doing absolutely nothing. I tried to imagine what I’d do when she left.
My first day in clinic came as a bit of a shock: we saw 20 kids in the few hours that the clinic was opened. Again, to my surprise, Katie assured me that it was a slow day, and things went smoother than normal. Though I had read about the diverse population on the island, I still found it strange to hear kids of all colors—light, brown, and black-skinned—all comfortably speaking Spanish.
There are many common diagnoses on the island. Although I’ve come to be familiar with them, these problems are ones that before I had only seen in textbooks. Here they were, alive before my eyes, manifesting themselves in children. In broken Spanish I converse with the mothers about their kid’s chief complaint. Paraistes, infections, asthma, upper respiratory infections, all of them are interrelated and commonplace for the barrios. It shouldn’t have to be like this anywhere in the world. There are so many people here who need help. After walking into the hospital for the first time, it dawned on me that I was actually in Roatan. The pre-clinic, the patients waiting in long lines, the benches in the hallways—I never knew health care could be so different.
I haven’t seen much of public health on the island, but it is sorely needed. Most diagnoses can only be temporarily solved with a quick clinical treatment, but more needs to be done. I’m glad I’m here. I have nothing but respect for the workers in the hospital and for the doctors who are here to help.
Two young nurses, Kelly and Carly, stayed in Casa Calico next door to Leonel. They worked in Peggy’s clinic, but are also working on starting a clinic on the other side of the island. They’ve already established their non-profit in the states and are planning to manage and start the clinic here while simultaneously getting their Masters over at UCSD to be Nurse Practitioners. Admirable. I’m sure we’ll see and hear more from them.
I love the kids here. Today, the second day of clinic, was a little better than the first. Things are relatively easy with Katie here. She’s showing me the ropes. I’ve developed a better understanding of how things are supposed to work and thus have had more time to play with the kids, talk to them, and administer some of the water surveys. One of the questions on the survey asks how old the mother is. Most of them are my age or younger. This freaked me out at first, but I’ve recovered since then. I’ve had to get used to little differences like that. This definitely isn’t Stanford.
The two Global Healing doctors here in the clinic are Dr. Charles Welcome (from Roatan) and Dr. Leonel Toledo (from Philadelphia). Leonel lives in Casa Calico. Kelly, Carly, Katie, and Al (another working with Peggy) are all leaving within the week, so I anticipate Leonel and I will be spending lots of time together. He doesn’t know how to cook and I don’t like living alone, so I think we’ll do a lot of sitting around, eating, and staring at each other (or the wall, whichever’s more interesting at the moment).
Today clinic went very well. As Leonel, Katie, and I walked into the hospital I saw two white guys with white collared shirts and slacks; I knew they must be Mormon missionaries. I now know where church is. Yay.
I’ve discovered that the crayons, coloring books, and stickers are a great way to keep the kids from screaming all the time. It’s amazing how little these kids need to be happy. Since Katie is here, too, we’ve had time to spend individually with the kids. I’m starting to remember my Spanish and am picking up lots of medical Spanish as well. We finished clinic early then went to La Colonia, a community where Katie wanted to test out her water survey. The little villages were set against the lush, green hillsides. It was beautiful, and we even got caught in a nice tropical storm. Meeting all of the people here just makes me want to live more simply. Well, not so simply that I don’t have purified, running water all the time, but you know what I mean. Leonel and Katie gathered some useful information from the three communities. Funny instance: we met a little girl in La Colonia who had perfect English. She was from Arizona. What a small world we live in.
The days in the clinic move fast. I’ve learned so much in such a short period of time. Today turned into a long day. We had a 12-day old baby come in, covered in nodules and rashes. Poor thing. The diagnoses was “pustulitis.” At least it wasn’t scabies (?).
Katie left. Leonel and I rode with her to the airport. We snapped one picture, and she was gone. Leonel and I stared at each other for a while. This is going to be an interesting month. We went to French Harbor and did some grocery shopping at Eldon’s. I found chicken breasts and beef; this made me unbelievably happy.
I am sad without Katie (I miss you, Katie!). I’ve never lived alone. The apartment here is rather large, but more comfortable than I thought it’d be. There are three beds and one me. I’m glad Leonel’s around to keep me company.
The most unpredictable thing here, by far, is the internet. When it works, it’s fast and reliable. When it’s down, it’s down for the count. I’m supposed to be editing the yearbook at night, but that hasn’t been happening. Whatever email and little things I need to check here I do at the clinic while the doctors are on rounds. I brought my own laptop, so altogether, there are three laptops in the apartment. The clinic laptop is consistent and gets a good internet connection. My laptop is slow. The other laptop is really low on memory and actually crashed on Leonel. I managed to give it a temporary fix, but I don’t know how long that’ll last. As soon as I fixed the first problem, then the mouse quit working. Things need to be erased from the hard drive, but it’s hard to erase when I don’t know what anything is. Who’s laptop is that anyway? For the next intern, be prepared for technical difficulties all the time. Leonel’s not a big help here, but he’ll give you moral support while you’re trying to fix it.
If there were three things I’d recommend bringing to Roatan, it’d be traveler’s checks, bug spray, and lots of music. I brought the bug spray but left my money on my desk in California. Apparently it’s easy to withdraw money from here, but you have to deal with the extra transaction fees and exchange fees…it’s a hassle. On a similar note: be sure to tell your bank (and remind them) that you’ll be traveling out of the country. Bank of America thought someone had stolen my card (though I told them I’d be traveling) so they put a hold on my account. Thank goodness for the clinic phone with an Oakland phone number! As for the music, Leonel and I had to go to a local music store and get some CDs. I came out with Bob Marley and some soca mix. I only have two other CDs burned on my laptop, so the music is pretty slim-pickings. Bring your own.
Leonel and I have had all too many instances where taxi drivers want to overcharge us. There should be a fixed rate, but with the price of gas rising all the time, we get different opinions. The price from West End to Coxen Hole fluctuates from 25-40 lempiras.
Leonel and I kayaked from West End all the way to West Bay. Some said it couldn’t be done. We lived the dream. I felt like my arms were going to fall off. We came in against the wind, but right as the sun set. It was perfect. Nearly every day is a perfect sunset here on the island.
Clinic is running smoothly. Charles and Leonel are great doctors. We all get along great. Last weekend we spent Friday night at a little bar in French Harbor, listening to country music and watching big, fat, old guys play dominoes and drink beer. It was a grand time. Charles loves country and is sure to sing lots of George Jones for all to hear. I don’t mind; I love country music, too. In the afternoons after clinic, Leonel and I take afternoon naps then head to the beach. We snorkel and swim, lie on the beach and read, watch the sunset, then eat dinner. We live pretty lazy afternoons.
Saturday and Sunday we started our scuba certification course. We had to sit through “academics” and watch lame videos that were made in the eighties. I laughed through most of the five videos. Then we had to do homework and take quizzes. Who knew you had to do so much work?! For the last module, the key points were: “Hey, scuba diving is fun. Why? Because 1) You meet new people, 2) You go new places, and 3) You do new things!!!” Haha, that made me laugh, too. Leonel and I are diving with Coconut Tree Divers, where the instructors are all foreigners with accents and (I’ve decided) don’t own any shirts. Despite that, we have an excellent instructor from Austria (who sounds like McBain from the Simpsons). The underwater world is beautiful. It’s worth taking all of those quizzes and the final exam.
Today in clinic Leonel diagnosed two kids with ascaris. Apparently all of the moms he talked to kept mentioning they’ve been seeing worms in their kid’s vomit or stool. It’s now Tuesday of my third week here and Leonel and I are both sick. Maybe we caught something from the kids, maybe we have decompression sickness from scuba diving. We’ve both been feverish, having nausea, and sore muscles. He’s been taking a lot of ibuprofen and motrin, so he’s drugged up all the time and his sickness comes in waves. I, on the other hand, am not used to taking a pill every time I feel sick, so I’ve been feeling a general, steady sickness throughout the day. I’m also congested and my throat hurts. Charles thinks it’s viral pharyngitis. Today after clinic I was so tired, I ate a sandwich and slept for four hours. I had some crazy, whacked-out dreams. Leonel says that usually accompanies a fever. Since the internet isn’t working, I’m going to send this out tomorrow morning. The next blog won’t be so long, as it will only cover half a week.
