My second last week at the clinic was not very eventful because from Tuesday to Thursday the hospital was on strike. Although we relieved some of the patient load from emergency by tending to the non-urgent pediatric cases, we had very few patients to see. On Friday, people must have assumed that the strike was still on, because we only had one patient. The plus side of not having very many patients was that I was able to focus on other things. On Wednesday for example, Dr. Prado and I had time to go to a computer shop to get a quote on the price of a new computer. Lately the clinic computer has been running very slowly and it’s definitely time for a new one. We still have not received approval for the purchase, but I am hoping that we can get it before I leave. This might be tough since I only have one week left.
Having extra time at the clinic gave me the opportunity to discuss Roatan’s public health issues with Dr. Prado, as well as the differences amongst the different ethnic and socioeconomic groups here on the island. Not surprisingly, the biggest concern on the island is a lack of health education and awareness. So next week, we are hopefully going to be visiting some public schools to do some health presentations.
Dr. Prado also taught me a little bit about hypertension in children and showed me how to take blood pressure. I only practiced on her and not on real patients, which was definitely a great idea, because it was more difficult than I imagined. During my lesson I also learned a great deal about stethoscopes and was amazed to hear how sophisticated and expensive they can get.
Another thing Dr. Prado told me about was respiratory distress. As I was triaging a patient and trying to take his temperature with the thermometer, he started crying as babies typically do. Dr. Prado was with another patient, but as soon as she heard the boy crying, she got her stethoscope and listened to his lungs. I was a bit surprised at first, because the mother had not mentioned anything about difficulty breathing. However, as soon as Dr. Prado heard his lungs, she decided to see him right away, so I knew it must have been bad. She later put him on oxygen instead of just using the nebulizer, which I had never seen before. Since I was so confused about this, I had to ask her how she knew there was something wrong with the boy just from hearing him cry. She said that it was not a normal cry and then went on to briefly explain the signs of respiratory distress, its effects and its treatment. The next day a two-month-old was admitted to the E.R. with severe respiratory distress. I did not go see him until he was a bit more stabilized, but even when I saw him, I recognized the signs that Dr. Prado had pointed out and was pretty amazed at how fast he was breathing.
Week six also marked the end of my volunteering at the Sandy Bay Alternative School. My time at the school was interesting as I had not been exposed to such a group of children before. From what I have gathered about the school, it is a private school on the island that follows an American home-schooling curriculum. The advantage for the children is that they are able to socialize with their peers while also influencing the pace of their education. My experience with the children consisted of spending time in the classroom during their summer school program. In the summer, they are given the option to attend the school and so they do not follow a curriculum. The children that do decide to attend (or whose parents decide for them) are all put into the same classroom and do educational activities and exercises together during the day. When I was there, there were about 16 children aged six to 13. I volunteered for two weeks, Monday to Thursday 1-3pm, assisting two of Ms. Peggy’s volunteers whose lesson plans covered global awareness, environmental awareness and general health and nutrition.
