It’s the end of my first week here in Roatan, and I’ve already made lasting memories. I’ve grown accustomed to many things that are part of daily life on the island: random power outages, putting on mosquito repellent before stepping outside, the sound of barking dogs early in the mornings, bargaining with the taxi drivers for the best fare. Sarah has been showing me around the island, giving me her best advice and recommendations, as well as training me at the clinic. We’ve been seeing about 20 patients a day at the clinic, and the most common conditions so far have been diarrhea, scabies, viral syndrome, and fever. I’ve noticed that most of the mothers request for the doctors to check their child for parasites, as well as for vitamins because they believe their child is underweight. In several instances this week, the child has actually been in a healthy weight range for his/her age. Therefore, Sarah and I have filled out the growth chart in front of the mothers and explained what it means. At times, the mothers seem to be in disbelief, so we’ve explained that their child does not have to appear chubby in order to be healthy.
Dr. Welcome and Dr. Rhee have been very helpful and welcoming. They take the time to answer any questions and explain the medical conditions that are presented. Dr. Welcome has been courteous enough to help me translate certain medical terms into Spanish. Dr. Rhee has particularly explained about fever in babies and infants. He explained the differences between treating a baby that has a fever in the United States and here on the island. In the States, he explained, parents have easy access to a thermometer and know right away if their child has a fever. Here on the island, however, parents may not have access to a thermometer and usually rely on the fact that their child feels very hot, as most of the parents have told us here at the clinic this week. Dr. Rhee also explained that with the limited resources here, doctors must ask for a blood test and stool test here, which is different from the more advanced treatment in the States.
We’ve also started on Sarah’s research project this week at clinic. Sarah thought of an idea to see how well parents understand the doctor, as well as their child’s condition and meds. We’ve been questioning a few patients a day. We’ve found that getting to the clinic a little earlier gives us more time to triage and survey after the patients see the doctors. From the surveys so far, we’ve noticed that some mothers do not know what condition or prescription they were given. Instead, they’ve simply shown us or pointed at the paper with the name of the medicine on it. However, there have also been mothers who show to have a clear understanding. These mothers have used terms such as “virus” and have been able to tell us exactly when and how to give the meds. I’m going to continue doing surveys in the next couple of weeks to gather more research.
Aside from time at the clinic, Sarah introduced me to everyone at the daycare she has been volunteering at. I’ll be helping out here as long as they need me – they are expecting a family of volunteers to arrive sometime in August. Sarah has also introduced me to Moises, who I will begin tutoring this week. I’m also going to start teaching English to Maria Cristina. She is heading to the States because her daughter is having surgery, and Peggy explained to me that she wants to know at least some basic English to help her get around.
We’ve also had time to relax and enjoy the island this week. We rented a car and drove to the East End of the island to an isolated beach. From there we had dinner at a resort nearby – there were no other guests there – and our table was on a deck overlooking the water and the sunset. We have been going to dinner in West End frequently (so far, our favorite has been the Creole Chicken Rotisserie). We’ve gone to West Bay Beach and swam off the dock by Peggy’s. We’ve also spent quality time with the locals, who have all been so nice and welcoming. Sarah and I bought baleadas and spent time with Nereyda and Tania just talking. We’ve also spent time with the local boys. One day, we spent a few hours with them on the dock. They told us they would help us with our Spanish if we started teaching them English. They began to quiz us on our Spanish: they pointed at things (the moon, sky, water, dock) and asked us to say the word in Spanish. They also asked us to pronounce words with double R’s (apparently we have difficulty rolling the R’s in Spanish). We then began to teach them simple words in English. They’ve been asking me when our first official English class is going to be, so I’ll probably start with them this week. I just need to coordinate a time – half of the children say they end school at noon and the other half say 5.
We dropped Sarah off at the airport yesterday and now she has officially passed the torch to me. I’ll keep you updated on everything that happens within the next couple of weeks. Now I’m off to relax and read some more of the book Peggy recommended – Mountains Beyond Mountains.
