April 11, 2010: Week 1
My first day in Roatan, Raul (global healing volunteer) showed me around the pediatric hospital and west bay of Roatan. We went grocery shopping and headed to a beach resort where Peggy (founder of Clinica Esperenza) knows the owners so we all played around for the day. We played soccer 3 vs 3, volleyball and laid on the beach....rough life volunteering haha. It was a great opportunity to get to know all the volunteers in a relaxed setting. Everyone I met was wonderful and full of energy. We are all from such different backgrounds and places around the world. I am learning so much from all of them already. After watching a beautiful sunset we went to dinner at the only Thai restaurant in Roatan that I thought was better than the majority of Thai restaurants in the states. This kind of defeats the purpose of being in Honduras but I am sure I will get a lot of authentic food in the next couple months…and well….I LOVE thai food. After dinner Sain (just graduated med school), Maddie (ICU RN), Crista (just graduated med school), Raul (current HEAL intern applying to med school who I will be working with for another 2 weeks) went to karaoke. I sang my first karaoke song ever with Sain (duet) which was aladdin..a whole new world...it was terrible but we got really into to it so maybe that made it better...although probably not. The ride back to the apartments was beautiful. Nurse Peggy owns 1 truck, but constantly drives around 5-10 people so all of us packed into the back of the truck. I sat silently on the way back home watching all the stars that were magnified by the lack of light on the island. I have never seen the stars so bright and clear. I looked for every constellation I know...which encompasses about 5 haha but I fully intend on learning many more...it was breathtaking.
On Sunday when everyone returned from the health fair (listened to the president of honduras and did HIV/AIDS screening) we went to dinner. I ordered literally half of a rotisserie chicken and ate it all! We had fried plantains and a yellow rice mix as well. My roommate Cottie and I watched religiosity and journaled together.
This morning I woke up to run around 5am (sockless) with my NEW NIKE FREEEE's (most amazing shoe in the world and my first new shoe since high school)!!! I ran on the beach till it ended which was about 15 minutes there and 15 minutes back. This does not mean it was a long distance run, it means I was awfully slow haha but I am working on it. I was feeling maybe a bit too adventurous and decided to run it twice so now I cant feel my legs..ooops. Also note to self, do not run next to dogs that are sleeping soundly because they will attack you. I got a little too close to one and it jumped at me and started chomping so I backed off and just starting running into the water like an idiot hoping that the dog couldn’t swim? Eventually the dog backed off after I was chest deep in water. There are stray dogs all along the beach so I am prepared to jump into the water every morning to avoid being attacked.
Today was my first day of triage at Clinica Esperenza and the Pediatric Public Hospital of Coxen Hole. Raul (other global healing volunteer) and I waited for our bus (big van) outside of the volunteer apartments promptly at 7:30am. I had no idea you could fit 20 people inside a van...but hey...its possible. Ten minutes later we arrived at the public hospital fully drenched in sweat. This hospital is far from anything you will see in the states. It was 90 degrees and muggy today and the hospital has no air conditioning. I walked around the hospital with Dr. Gross the American attending volunteer to watch him do rotations with mothers who had just delivered. I learned so much about the normal signs of a newborn through the first trimester. I was terribly nervous and extremely excited as I walked through a sea of mothers and some children crawling on the floor who were waiting to be seen at the global healing clinical office.
Today I saw 15 patients. The children came in with a variety of diseases I had never seen before ranging from chickenpox to scabies and parasites (mostly worms). It is very clear I do not speak fluent Spanish so the mothers that speak English reply in English. I am already becoming more confident with my Spanish and especially my medical Spanish but I still need a lot of work.
I ended the day working in Miss Peggy's Clinica Esperenza counting pills in the pharmacy and cleaning up. Tomorrow I will start working with a few soccer teams around west end (the more touristy side of the island). I am so excited to become enthralled in soccer again, especially with a group of kids who live and breathe the game. My first three days here have been amazing to say the least.
