more nursing adventures

This past week I’ve been grateful for these people at Clínica Salvatore:

there's 3 people missing, but here's a good picture of some of the staff in Palín!

Am loving being a part of this group of people more and more, because they reach out in so many ways to their community.  I think I may have found my calling to the Community Health field of nursing!

Each month both doctors and usually a nurse and maybe a dentist get in a little plane and fly to the mountains of Quiché to a little farm town called La Perla. Last month I got to join them, and this month I get to go again! The only downside to this month’s trip is that the plane’s engine is getting worked on, so we will all have to take a van. With the plane, the trip is 45 minutes. By car, it is going to take us 11 hours because of all the wild curvy roads and mountainous terrain the vehicle has to get through. I am really dreading the travelling (I will be sure to take some Dramamine!), but it will help that we’ll stop halfway to sleep somewhere. Here’s some photos from February’s trip:

This past week, Clínica Salvatore had a great opportunity to take their work outside the clinic again and hold a clinic for the workers of a large textile plant (they make clothes for Target and Kohl's in the States!). It was held Monday through Friday for an hour in the evenings, and I was able to get a ride with the Doctor two of those nights. This was a great blessing for the workers because the cost of their visit was very low, and any medicine prescribed to them was free! Also, it was a great blessing for Clínica Salvatore because it got the word out about us to more people in the community.

A couple weeks ago, I got to join my friend Patty, who is also a nurse, in visiting the elementary school right in front of the clinic. Our mission was to address each grade’s classroom about parasitic worms and how to prevent getting them. Sadly, probably every child in that school has worms living inside their stomach right now or has had them many times in the past. Infections from parasites, which are caused by little worms finding a way to live inside your intestinal wall, are incredibly common in the rural areas here because poor sanitation and poor hygiene is prevalent. Families live in poverty—in homes made from cement blocks with tin or tarp roofs and dirt floors. All kinds of animals mill about the neighborhood, so of course it wouldn’t be uncommon for a child playing outside to come into contact with animal poop. Parasites can also get into the intestine by eating uncooked or unwashed food, contaminated water or hands, or by skin contact with larva-infected soil. Children are especially susceptible. A child with parasites will come to the clinic experiencing diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, and weakness.

Patty and I talked to the kids about parasites and how they’re caused, demonstrated how to properly wash hands, and went around asking each child to open their mouth so we could drop a little white pill inside, called Albendazole. It was sad and ironic that at the same time we were going around educating each grade about how to prevent worms, the other kids were lining up outside for breakfast which arrived in two big pots: hot coffee and spaghetti. None of the children had washed their hands (I’m not sure if there was actually any running water in the school—I forgot to check—and of course nobody was whippin hand sanitizer out of their backpacks!), and no one was using utensils. With dirty hands, they were reaching into their little bowls of spaghetti and putting it into their mouths. You guessed it. More parasites.

Ahh… Clearly, we are not done health educating here! Being a nurse in a developing country has taught me that I need to remember to be patient with individuals and communities who are still learning how to live healthier lives. They are wise and intelligent people, but a lot of times things like a basic health education or basic tools/medicines that help us prevent or manage disease are not readily available to or affordable for them, such as scales, blood-glucose monitors, vitamins, fluoride toothpaste, vision screenings…the list is endless. Whereas I have had things like brushing my teeth 3 times a day engrained in my mind because my parents and teachers taught me to do that all the time as a kid, the children here do not learn those basic things. Priorities are placed elsewhere, not intentionally, but maybe because the little money made needs to be spent on food, not toothbrushes and toothpaste.

This is the reality that I see every day, and it breaks my heart that people suffer because they lack things that I have always had in abundance! Heck, I’ve always had like 3 different kinds of shampoo at the same time in my shower back home.  Here, my experience in this country is not only teaching me how to be a more culturally-sensitive and health education-emphasizing nurse, but how to just be a simpler person in general. What am I spending my money on? How much do I spend on things I don’t need? What is most important to me? What material things can I cut down on? Who can I bless with my things or my money or my time this week?

As Zach and I ask ourselves those questions, I challenge you to ask yourself those questions, too! How much more could we do with less?

Thanks for reading, amigos :)

Kristen