It’s hard to believe that already a week has passed since I arrived in Roatan. Last Sunday, Melissa, Karina, and Miss Peggy picked me up at the airport and drove me to Miss Peggy’s house in Sandy Bay, where I will reside for the duration of my stay here. A short while later, Karina, Melissa, and I jumped in a two-person kayak and paddled over to the resort where they took dive certification classes. They wanted to go on a last dive before Melissa left. They introduced me to the instructor, Shane, and he promised to get me started on my certification next week after I’ve settled down at the clinic.
I also met Lindsey, a second year med student, who lived upstairs with Miss Peggy and left on Tuesday to go back home. We all went down to another part of Sandy Bay for a BBQ with 9 Irish dental students who volunteer with Miss Peggy in the mornings. We baked brownies to drive over, but when showed up only four of them were even at their apartment. After a few hours they cooked up some nachos to go along with our brownies. Interesting BBQ.
On Monday I began my first day in clinic, which involved waking up very early (6:30am!). This wouldn’t be so difficult if it weren’t for the fact that it takes me forever to fall asleep here. The dogs, birds, iguanas (I had no idea that they make noise), and even the crabs that scuttle across the floor create a symphony at night that is hard to ignore. Each day this week was pretty busy in clinic, but Melissa had enough time on Monday and Tuesday to show me the ropes. It appears to me that the most difficult part of working in the clinic might be trying to read Charles’ diagnoses and treatments for data entry. I hope that I can find more time to shadow the doctors, but with all of the triaging and data entry, I find that the most I can do is pop in on Karina or Charles’ last consultation of the day. Perhaps with more practice I can find the time to listen in more, as there have been many exciting cases already in clinic.
As far as life outside the clinic goes, I helped Lindsey finish her cervical cancer survey on Monday. This involved hiking up the hills of La Colonia to ask women if they had ever had a Pap smear (most had not) or if they had ever heard of cervical cancer (many had). The survey seems a little rigged—they have changed the questions a few times to try to get the responses that they “think is correct.” One issue is that most don’t know what a cervix is. We also run into the problem that we don’t want to scare them by telling them about another form of cancer that they are not being tested for. Hopefully, when Peggy’s new clinic opens she can provide this service for the women of La Colonia.
Lindsey left Tuesday but before she left we kayaked over to Anthony’s Key to see the dolphins during their “quiet time.” I also joined a gym this week, as I found that I run out of beach after about 15 minutes and running along the twisting road with speeding taxis is a dangerous proposition. The gym was a little expensive and had only one broken treadmill, but the owners are very nice and from my hometown. I’ve been every day since.
Yesterday, Melissa left, leaving me all alone in Peggy’s downstairs apartment. Fortunately, Peggy’s home is a revolving door and I have faith that new life will enter the home within days. Before she left, we went over to Karina’s apartment in West End to cook banana chocolate chip pancakes and eggs. We also got a chance to swim in the water at Half Moon Bay which was incredibly relaxing and refreshing.
This coming week I will get started on a few public health projects. The first involves a public radio station, which first will interview Peggy, Karina, and Charles and then will air intermittent public health PSAs that we design. We are hoping that this will be a means that we can reach the population of Roatan. Additionally, Charles is in the middle of writing a proposal to Global Healing to extend his work for them into the afternoons, when he will visit local day cares, high schools, and other community centers and give talks about nutrition/sanitation/prevention of disease and such. He hopes to reach out particularly to high school students, encouraging them to practice safe sex or abstinence, as many of the moms we see in the clinic are teenagers. On Saturday, Dr. Rom will arrive. He is a water-borne diseases specialist and we will have to find a way to squish a third doctor into our tiny clinic!
