This was quite a fun week on the island! Thursday was Independence Day, so everything was closed, even at the hospital (except the emergency room, of course). Leonel and I spent the day with Dr. Charles and Francisco out at West Bay—which is easily my new favorite place in the world. Some of Francisco’s friends got us into the Mayan Princess for a few hours—the pool there is awesome, with fake waterfalls and everything. Needless to say, it was not a bad way to spend the day ;). There was also a parade Thursday morning through Coxen Hole, which was a lot of fun to watch. It was mainly middle-school and high school kids marching in costume, or as marching bands/baton twirlers etc. It seems like the whole town was there, so it
was a very festive atmosphere.
Also, Saturday night was the end of a fishing tournament here at West End, and there was a huge Carnival in the streets to celebrate. There were three different bands, and the music was great. Leonel and I danced for hours, and although I can’t hold a candle to these island girls on the dance floor (even the 6 year olds!), I had a ton of fun.
This week things were slow in the clinic, although it picked up a bit on Friday. Wednesday was the slowest, and when had only about 8 patients the whole day. Some people were saying it was due to the holiday, and Wednesday was the morning that all the school children participate in parades so moms may have been more reluctant to come into the hospital. Also, this week a Cuban pediatrician joined us at the hospital. His name is Eduardo, and the hospital has contracted him for a year, I believe. So now there’s Dr. Jackie’s clinic, our clinic and Eduardo’s clinic. This may have a more permanent effect on patient flow in our clinic, but I think I’ll get a better idea after this coming week.
Since things were slow I got a chance to look around the hospital a bit more—Leonel spent time with me talking about all the different cases in the peds ward on Wednesday. There weren’t that many kids at the time, but there was a kid who came in with blood in his urine—they were still trying to figure out exactly what was going on, and Leonel explained all the different possibilities to me. There was also a girl with an abscess behind her ear, and two kids Leonel hospitalized from the clinic because they both had high fevers for several days.
Thursday, unfortunately, the preme I wrote about last week died. The baby had been alive for 18 days and fought hard, but just didn’t make it. After talking with Francisco about it, I found out that the mom had originally come into the hospital in labor pains, and the doctors in the ER had managed to stop them. However, after she was released, she tried to get
home in the back of a pickup (I believe she lives pretty far away, but I don't know which community). On the way home, the people in the back got bumped around a bit, and one bump sent everyone flying. The mom fell and this sent her into labor again, and she ended up having the baby at home. So it seems that although the baby’s medical care could have been better--and there would have been more options to help him either on the mainland or in the states--the real reason for his death was that his mom was poor, and couldn’t get a safer ride home from the hospital. Which almost makes it more tragic, because the whole thing is so avoidable.
On Tuesday Charles, Leonel and I went out for liquados at Que Tal Café, and happened to run into a midwife who is working here on the island. Her name is Burnedette, and it sounds like she’s been here on and off for the past few years. She is currently working out of Valerie’s clinic in the mornings, and I can tell just from the few minutes that we spent with her that she is very passionate about the work she is doing here. She knows a lot about the less-than-ideal situations many pregnant women here are in, and it sounds like she is doing a lot to try and help them. She has some students coming soon, so they will try to have 24 hr care going on in the maternity ward for the next few months, I believe. I asked if I could shadow her a bit and she agreed—I’m very excited because I’ve never seen childbirth before (and I’m actually a little nervous), and I feel like I could learn a lot from her. However, I haven’t been in contact with her since Tuesday, because the clinic was closed when I went by on Friday. I’m going to check it out again on Monday, which works out well because I’ve been wanting to introduce myself to Valerie anyway. So hopefully I will get connected with them this coming week.
Also this week I’ll be starting Spanish classes and I’m really looking forward to it. Actually, it turns out that the classes are one-on-one tutoring, and the tutor comes to me at Casa Calico! I met her last week, and she seems very nice. I signed up through the Central American Spanish School, and so far I would recommend the company to future interns. My teacher responded very quickly to my email, and has been flexible (we’re going to have lessons for two hours a day, three times a week). So I’ll keep you all posted on how the lessons actually go. Leonel and I also signed up at a new gym that opened last week. It’s right next to Rick’s American Café. It’s SUPER nice, with mirrors and A/C and shiny equipment and everything. It was pretty pricey--$75 for 6 weeks—but I decided it was well worth it if I could stay remotely in shape while I’m here.
There’s not much in other news. I’m still learning a lot everyday, and meeting new people--everyone has an interesting story, too. I’ve revised my survey and I will start out tomorrow or Tuesday to start interviewing people in the different communities surrounding Coxen Hole. Leonel and I decided it would be best to start with communities close by, and expand out later if I have the time. Also, we’ve made up some ideas for posters to hang in the hallways for the moms to read while they wait. The hospital has signs hanging everywhere about breastfeeding, so we were thinking about other things that would be helpful to put up. One will be more or less about the “10 ways to a healthy childhood,” another about healthy diet
(there are signs about this already inside the clinic, but we figure another couldn’t hurt) and possibly a third about fevers (since so many kids come in with them).
Ok, well, that’s about it for now! More next week!
