Today was a great experience filled with treating over 150 patients. We have treated nearly 400 patients within our first two days of clinic, and still have three days left in Las Mercedes.
Within the day we took a small break for a delicious lunch and discussion with a young Honduran lady named Teresa. She is actively pursuing her passion to become a nurse. She said that she has always wanted to be a nurse and want to help her community, and she is accomplishing her goals. She is a very driven individual, and has had the fortune to be supported by her family and friends. As a group, who has come down here for several years, we have recognized her drive to succeed and have helped to support her in that. Today, we “passed the gift,” much in line with Heifer International’s core value in supporting the community achievements. The group presented her with a stethoscope…something she did not have, and has definitely needed. “This will serving my patients on Monday!” she exclaimed. It was a very emotional moment for her as well as all of us, as she has truly defied all odds and accomplished her primary goal of becoming a nurse, and hopes to take the position in this clinic as a permanent nurse in the clinic.
Each evening, after dinner, we have a post-clinical conference and share interesting interactions with the patients or one another. One story told this evening in our daily post-clinical conference was one of a patient in need of physical therapy, but in order for the therapist to begin working with the patient, it was necessary to ask the gentleman to please remove his machete from his waist.
Another story that was told was one of a patient in need of some eye drops and being told in Spanish that she needed to put two cats in her eyes instead of two drops in her eyes (for those of you who do not speak Spanish, cat is gato and drops are gotas). We are all working on our Spanish and getting better everyday, even though sometimes it involves a village laughing with us as we refine the art.
One incredibly touching story came in the form of a tiny barely-2-month-old baby. The baby was gently cradled in his mother’s arms, wrapped in white and blue infant garb. He was sleeping peacefully. He had a head full of hair nestled above his ears. But where a normal nose would have been was instead a severe cleft palate/cleft plate deformity (essentially a lack of a hard palate which prevented him from feeding from his mother’s breast and necessitated the use of a dropper). Where normal 5-fingered hands would be, were replaced by mis-shapen ones that lacked middle fingers. Where normal legs would be, were replaced by flaps of flesh (almost as if he was a thalidomide baby). He had a heart murmur and likely had mental retardation as part of the syndrome he had (perhaps trisomy 13 or 19). The mother had come hoping to find that we could offer some therapy. Her eyes were teary, as Gloria (our Heifer representative) explained that we could unfortunately do nothing for her child, that we could not make him like one of her other 3 healthy children who were shyly hiding behind her back. Gloria held her hand and counseled to the mother that neither her nor her husband had done anything wrong, that sometimes, rarely, a baby is born with deformities that the body would in most other situations catch and abort naturally, and that the family could only do what they were doing now and love him the best they could with the time they had together. It’s always unfortunate and heartbreaking whenever a situation such as this happens in the US. But it’s so much more so when you witness it happening to a family in a poor mountain community. But this wasn’t just another sad story. Because what you learn in this community is not another lesson in pity or feeling sorry for a group of people, but how the community lives in the face of hardship, and how they stay strong. Despite the sad nature of this story, we still talked about how beautiful her baby was when he smiled, and how he loved the water and baths, and how the mother had the support of the matriarch of the community.
- Wendy
Shout out to Mike and Olive – Hope all is well. Love and miss you guys, Wendy