Another week has passed and I am so honored to be here as a part of this community. We have a wonderful woman who helps us around the house named Izela. Today she brought us 3 dragonfruits and a few limes to make the beautiful drink pictured below. I have never seen any food this deep a shade of pink. For lunch today, we made a beef, broccoli and tomato stew which was a nice change of pace from my usual rice, beans, corn tortillas and plantains.
I've really been enjoying working with Trish and Adam, the other NDI doctors, in the small community clinic here in our town of Los Angeles. Eventually, I will be seeing patients on my own 4 days a week and helping with Administrative duties and the medical brigades as well. The NDI clinic is in the pueblo of Los Angeles, on the dirt road on which I live. It is a simple structure with cement walls, an aluminum roof and wooden doors. We have movable plastic tables and chairs where we see patients in the main room and a small dispensary room with old assorted metal and plastic cabinets shelving the remnant supplements, herbs and other medical supplies mostly from previous brigades (thanks for donating!). While seeing patients, we are often visited by cats, bats, cows and many other patients eagerly hoping to put their name on the list for an appointment that day. The power frequently goes out (as does our fan and the lights) but we keep working. Sometimes it rains so hard, we can barely hear the patient and everyone just smiles and waits it out...a patient culture.
I love my walk home through our open field and my neighbors back yard containing a bunch of piglets roped to a tree and the cow that I drink milk from. Yesterday as the bottom of my scrubs were getting soaked by the wet brush that covers the field, I found some passion fruit that had fallen from a tree. I am going to have it for dessert tonight.
I've really been enjoying working with Trish and Adam, the other NDI doctors, in the small community clinic here in our town of Los Angeles. Eventually, I will be seeing patients on my own 4 days a week and helping with Administrative duties and the medical brigades as well. The NDI clinic is in the pueblo of Los Angeles, on the dirt road on which I live. It is a simple structure with cement walls, an aluminum roof and wooden doors. We have movable plastic tables and chairs where we see patients in the main room and a small dispensary room with old assorted metal and plastic cabinets shelving the remnant supplements, herbs and other medical supplies mostly from previous brigades (thanks for donating!). While seeing patients, we are often visited by cats, bats, cows and many other patients eagerly hoping to put their name on the list for an appointment that day. The power frequently goes out (as does our fan and the lights) but we keep working. Sometimes it rains so hard, we can barely hear the patient and everyone just smiles and waits it out...a patient culture.
I love my walk home through our open field and my neighbors back yard containing a bunch of piglets roped to a tree and the cow that I drink milk from. Yesterday as the bottom of my scrubs were getting soaked by the wet brush that covers the field, I found some passion fruit that had fallen from a tree. I am going to have it for dessert tonight.
My view from inside the clinic while seeing patients
The Medical Dispensary
The Gyn/PAP room
The waiting area behind the clinic
This is where patients stand or sit in plastic lawn chairs, sometimes all day to see one of the doctors. Chickens, pigs and dogs roam through picking at anything alive in the dirt. Most backyards look like this...all dirt and few fruit trees with a latrine. The clinic's "bathroom" is the small wooden building in the backyard, a latrine with a hole in it. It works...even for collecting urine samples.