Arriving in Roatan was a daunting experience- I had come from the snow in England and after 3 flights (including an 8 hour stopover in England) I was shocked by the heat, the sunshine and the overwhelming sense of being in a place I had never been in before. I met Dee at the airport who was with 2 other interns for Clinica Esperanza, both from the U.S. They were all lovely and welcoming and it was really nice to meet people who were in a similar position to me. The two interns were both from Howard University in Washington D.C. and were both fourth year medical students. Because of the U.S. system being different from the U.K, I discovered I was much younger than all the student volunteers (the youngest except me is 28 and I’m 19). Dee drove us to a large grocery store and we stocked up on food for the week before driving to where I am staying. I am in the beach house next to Miss Peggy, which is beautiful, spacious and has an incredible view of the docks and the sea. After settling in and unpacking, I met the two doctors who were staying here too and they took me over to meet Miss Peggy. She is absolutely lovely, kind and accommodating, which was such a relief to think there was someone so welcoming around in case of any problems. It’s strange to think of all the amazing work she has done here and how grounded she seems despite all of that. One of the doctors drove us to West Bay Beach for the remainder of the afternoon and the other interns and I spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and getting to know each other. We took a water taxi back to West End and a collectivo to Sandy Bay. I was feeling quite nervous about my week but thankfully Miss Peggy popped over to explain to me my routine and I went to bed exhausted, but a little more confident about the weeks to come.
The next morning I took my first trip to the hospital in Coxen Hole. When I arrived I was quite shocked by the conditions – the beds were all falling apart, it was incredibly warm, there was no form of infection control on wards and many of the patients seemed to be very uncomfortable. I met Dr. Rachel who would be in charge for the week. She is a volunteer doctor from Indiana and had been there for 6 weeks already and helped me through the first week wonderfully. Every day has the same routine – Dr. Rachel would take me on rounds of the babies born during the night. She taught me how to do a newborn exam and explained everything really well. It was so interesting meeting many of the mothers, some of whom were as young as me. I couldn’t imagine ever having a child at my age, let alone in the Roatan Hospital – it must have been incredibly daunting and not in the least bit terrifying. I think Dr. Rachel really helped though – she gave everyone advice for the first few weeks, ensured they were all booked in for follow up appointments either at the hospital or their local clinic and then ensured their babies were healthy. I’m hoping to be able to attend some of the Clinica Esperanza pre-natal classes to see what things are like here. After rounds we went to the Global Healing clinic. I began triage – I was quite nervous to begin with, particularly about Spanish (many of the volunteers laugh at how I speak English like I’m from England and Spanish like I’m from Spanish. It’s such a contrast here to everyone who is American/Latino) but soon found it was quite okay. I have to find out basic information to fill out their records, and take height, weight and head circumference in babies under one year. I then ask the patients to wait to be seen by the doctor. It’s lovely meeting patients and parents alike, many of whom are exciting to talk about their lives to me and to find out where I am from and my experiences of Roatan thus far. It is also a great way of stressing the importance of follow up care – many parents are busy and have many children and often don’t turn up when asked to return to clinic. Working in triage gives me an opportunity to highlight the importance of regular check-ups and to return when advised to by the doctor. I have also enjoyed building relationships with the children in clinic – oftentimes I sit with them when they are colouring and they tell me what they are drawing. It’s noticeably much easier to ask them to stand on scales or to measure their height when they trust me a little more. Dr. Rachel lets me shadow her in clinic when I’ve finished triaging so it’s been good to improve Spanish and see some of the conditions that have come in. Most of them are similar to what you would see in general practice back home.
As this week is Semana Santa, the clinic stopped running midweek. Instead I went in for rounds with Dr. Rachel anyway and brought in all the supplies donated by friends, family and colleagues in the U.K. There was a lot of childrens’ pain relief, syringes, thermometers, sterile dressing kits, undercast padding and vitamins. I cleaned the clinic whilst it was empty – I figured there wouldn’t be an opportunity like this for a while so scrubbed down all the surfaces and the shelves for supplies, dusted away in all the corners and crevices and neatened up all the shelving areas. It at least made me feel like I was doing something useful even though there were no patients. We also went to the local print shop and made copies of all the documents used in clinic to make sure there were enough for the next week. By the time I finish at the clinic and figure out my way home it’s normally afternoon and I’ve been coming back and studying straight away – I’m conscious of the exams I have a month after I get home so I’m often found at the dining table struggling with biochemistry. In the evenings it gets dark really early and often I’m in bed by around 9pm so I’m up and ready for work early. I take walks on the beach too, which is lovely to be outdoor s and make the most of the nice weather. One evening the other interns and I went into West End and wandered around, looked at the shops and got a very nice Thai dinner. We also went for lunch today and had baleadas, the local food here. They’re about $1 and are wraps with beans, eggs, rice and are very salty but very nice! Today we had planned to go and explore the island but it’s been raining (complete downpour all day) so we stayed in with tea and biscuits (I’m definitely converting everyone to my British ways) and all managed to get a bit of work done for medical school back home. I also managed to speak to my family which was really nice because I’ve been missing them this week. As much as I’m having a wonderful time it’s odd to think of everyone at home all together. The experience here is fantastic though – I’m remembering why I wanted to be a doctor in the first place here. Healthcare is so different to home – there doesn’t seem to be any sense of urgency or any real continuity of care, and being in hospital seems to be a very difficult experience for the patients. Records aren’t really computerised and there is minimal structure and organisation to paperwork. I’m looking forward to the new week though –I’m meeting the doctor who is here most of the time but not been here this week and I’m also seeing more of island life and doing some sightseeing. This is a lovely experience and I’m so grateful to have to opportunity to be here in Roatan and working with Global Healing.
