Monday was some sort of holiday from the hospital, although the hospital was closed anyway for the strike, so the Grubers told me to spend the day at Peggy's. I worked in the pharmacy and got to triage a couple of patients. I also took a trip up to La Colonia with Peggy and Irma to track down a child with a congenital skin/eye condition that will (hopefully) visit a pediatric ophthalmologist in El Progresso in the beginning of next month. I am trying to help out with the coordination of that visit as much as possible, and it has been rewarding so far.
Tuesday was the Gruber's last chance to reorganize the clinic a few times, so we did that and saw patients referred from the ED. Anita Kandiar, the new attending, arrived and Howard showed her around the hospital.
I also had the opportunity to try to coordinate transportation of a hydrocephalic baby and her mother and grandmother to Tegucigalpa. The grandmother came to me asking for assistance, and before I really had all of the pertinent information she had dragged me to the mayor's office and the police chief's trying to resolve some personal conflict of hers. I am still trying to assist them in getting to Teguc, but I am a bit more skeptical about taking people's requests at face value.
The strike has also been a point of recent disappointment. At the end of this week more workers decided to at least come sit (or sleep) on benches in front of the hospital to increase their visibility, as opposed to staying at home as they had for the previous week and a half. Every time I ask a striking worker what the demands are, I get a different answer, and every time I ask if any progress is being made, they shake their heads and say that this is a "long-term" strike. I am feeling constrained by a cultural divide, because in the United States I wouldn't hesitate at reprimanding both the union and the hospital management for making so little progress in so much time, but I resign myself to the fact that everyone here comes from a different cultural background and has different standards of what to expect from a public hospital. A couple of children died in the hospital this week for not-completely-clear reasons, and I can't help but think that the disorganization with the strike and some degree of negligence were involved.
I don't mean to sound too negative, but I think many people view this strike as a big setback for public health on Roatan. Anita is great and I am still learning a lot, but I can't quite imagine what the next two months hold for the Global Healing clinic in Roatan.
On a slightly different note, we are now in the midst of rainy season and I happily spent my Saturday watching a movie and baking cinnamon-raisin bread with Christine and another volunteer. The community of volunteers here is great and we are constantly bouncing our impressions of Roatan's health off of each other to learn more
