March 21, 2010: Week 1
My first week in Roatan was nothing short of amazing. Busy and a little stressing at times, but nonetheless amazing. I arrived in Roatan on Monday afternoon, one of the doctors working at Miss Peggy’s clinic picked me up from the airport and drove me to the condo were I would be staying in Sandy Bay, right next door to Miss Peggy’s home. After settling in and unpacking my things, I got a ride into Coxen-Hole, from my neighbor, so I could do some grocery shopping. After getting a cab back home and eating some dinner I promptly crashed into bed and fell asleep, so I could start my morning bright and early on Tuesday.
Tuesday morning I arrived at the clinic fairly early and waited for the doctors to arrive. I sat out in the hall with the patients of the hospital, the waiting area consisting of no more than a hallway with old wooden benches on either side, between the entrances to the clinics in the Hospital. It was a sweltering hot day and the mother’s fanned their children as they sat waiting to be seen by a doctor. Many had come from far away and arrived as early as 6:30am so they could be assured that they would see a doctor as soon as possible.
The doctors arrived promptly and greeted me and we stepped into the clinic, where they showed me around the different areas of the clinic. After which I proceeded to give them the supplies Mrs. Gruber had sent with me, alcohol swabs, ointments, antifungal creams, aspirators, etc., of which they were very happy to receive. There are currently there doctors working at the clinic, Dr. Sara Sadrzadeh a doctor from Honduras, Dr. Preetha Krishnan a fellow Bay Area resident, and Dr. Catherine Boston from Louisiana. The three of them gave me a brief tour of the hospital and introduced me to several people in different departments, before taking me with them to examine the newborns. Then we went back to the clinic and they showed me exactly what I should do with each patient, were and how to notate all the vitals, and I quickly began calling names. I will not lie, the first day was a little nerve racking, I have taken vital signs before but the being in a different country, with doctors I had just met only moments ago, and doing something that felt so simple and yet so important at the same time, the pressure to not make a mistake felt intense. I didn’t want even so much as a smudge on the patient’s sheet. But after the first few patients I began to relax a little and not feel like someone was waiting for me to make a mistake.
We saw about fourteen patients that first day, which was one of the lighter days we had this first week, a fact which made my first day at the clinic a bit easier. After seeing all the patients for the day the doctors taught me how to input all the information into the global healing spreadsheet and the hospital spreadsheet, and where to turn in hospitals form for the department of statistics. My day at the clinic being done, I took some time to explore Coxen-Hole and familiarize myself where everything was around the hospital before I took a cab home to Sandy Bay. Upon returning to Sandy Bay, I took some time to walk around my neighborhood, and meet some of my neighbors. All in all my first day was pretty great, even taking into account my minor attack of nerves.
The rest of the week at the clinic grew progressively better, as I grew more comfortable and more familiar with the clinic. I continued to arrive early to the clinic, so that I could do some cleaning and organizing of all the cupboards and shelves in the clinic, now what I need to do is make some labels for the shelves and some of the boxes to help keep things organized and make them easier to find. The doctors at the clinic have been really appreciative of my being there and have really welcomed me with open arms. Dr. Krishnan, Dr. Boston and Dr. Boston’s husband showed me around West End, where they are staying, and we had dinner there at a delicious place called Rotisserie Chicken, which so far I have found to be the most affordable place in West End and the food is great. Thursday night, Dr. Krishnan also invited all of us at the clinic out to dinner, including Dr. Boston’s Husband, and Dr. Sadrzadeh’s husband, so all of us are getting to know each other pretty well. Friday afternoon I was also able to visit Miss Peggy’s clinic and see how things run there, as well as get oriented with the pharmacy so that I can help out there in the future.
This first week in Roatan has been, as I said, amazing. I have met so many great people and gotten to do so many great things that I would probably never have the chance to do in the U.S., both medical, and recreational, such as snorkeling! However I seem to have brought some of the Bay area weather with me, as we had two days of stormy weather, which delayed my snorkeling until Saturday. But it was just as well as the first few days I had so much to do I probably wouldn’t have had much time to really enjoy it.
The only problem I have run into, if I can even call it a problem, is with some of the cab drivers who realized I was new to the island and tried to charge me more than the normal fare, I had to haggle with them most of the time so they would not give me the tourist price. However one thing to note is that the prices have gone up from what the orientation packets stated, I have consulted with the locals and they have agreed that these are the correct fares. A cab from Sandy Bay to Coxen-Hole is twenty-five Lempiras, and the bus from Sandy Bay to Coxen-Hole is eighteen Lempiras. I finally decided to try and take the bus on Friday at Miss Peggy’s insistence, and I am very glad I did. It actually did not take that much longer than a cab ride and the people on the bus were much friendlier and more open to conversation, and as soon as they heard that I was here to volunteer at the Global Health clinic and Miss Peggy’s Clinic they were very happy and really welcomed me and even commended me for doing so. It was really nice to feel that sort of acceptance from the locals, especially since I had only met them a few minutes ago.
