What is Island Fever one may ask? And how do you go about getting it? Well folks, island fever is when you have been on an island that is only 30 miles long and 4-5 miles wide (at best) with nothing to and no option of leaving town (except by a $50 ferry!). What is the treatment? That's right...taking that $50 ferry to the mainland. So that is exactly what Jess and I did....and we loved every minute of it!! Last Wednesday afternoon we set sail for the mainland to take a little 5 day vacation. I know, I know- some of you think, why do you need a vacation when you are already on vacation. Because, while it may seem like vacation to you, my year is far from a vacation...take today for instance- I worked 7:30-3 with no break, had 20 minutes for lunch, and then went back to work for another 2.5 hrs. No, no, I'm not complaining; I am simply proving a point :) Anways back to my weekend. Wednesday night we spent in a hostel up in the mountains of the jungle and then went White Water River Rafting Thursday morning. First time rafting, hopefully not the last! So much fun, and so pretty as well. That afternoon we spent walking aroud the town of La Ceiba and then relaxed in preparation for the day of travel on Friday. We got on a bus to San Pedro and not even a half hour after leaving the station, we were stopped in the road by some people that felt the need to protest. I don't know what they were protesting, but they sure were holding up traffic! An hour later, after they got the tree branches and rocks and people cleared off the road, we were finally rolling again. After that 4 hrs on the bus, we then got on another bus to take us from San Pedro to Copan...another 4 hrs. But hey, it only cost us $8.50....who can really complain about that?! Once in Copan we settled into our hostel and just took the night easy. We met up with Jess's friend who is in the Peace Corp and all of the Honduran and Guatemalan stationed volunteers as they were having a Peace Corp Halloween in Copan. Saturday morning we hit up the Mayan ruins and learned all about their life (to some extent or another) while continually running into encounters with some really weird and strange people. In the afternoon we hit up the town and just got to explore it- it is such a cute little typical Spanish looking town with a great atmosphere! That night we could have dressed up and gone out with the Peace Corp people, but with our bus back to Ceiba leaving at 5 the next morning, us not having costumes, and not really knowing any of the people, we decided to go to the amazing wine and cheese place where we had EXCELLENT grilled cheese and coffee and then went to another little place for delicious carrot cake and cheese cake- much better decision! The mainland differed from Roatan so very much, but we loved it. It had much more of a "third world" feel to it and it wasn't full of expats (even though it did have Dominoes, Pizza Hut, Applebees, BK, KFC, and Wendy's all within a block of each other!). I will probably have to venture back there at some point. So after a great relaxing weekend, the first bout of Island Fever has been cured and we're ready for some more work.
Today brought with it a slew full of more doctors and volunteers so it was again a very busy day in the clinic. We saw 52 patients, where typically we had been averaging 35-40. There were 4 different med donations that all had to be sorted, entered into the computer, and put away. The upstairs was requesting some quality cleaning/sorting time from us. Therefore, I was welcomed back from vacation with a day that started at 7:30 and went to 5:30....whew, what a long day!
While I'm thinking about it, why don't I tell you about the hospital which I know you have all been sitting on the edge of your seats waiting to hear about! Patients arrive at the hospital early in the morning in order to be seen. At the hospital there are about 9 different clinics from just a regular doctor to different specialists. They pick up their chart from the admitting window, take it to the next window to pay (5 limps or about 25 cents) and then they leave their chart to be put in a pile for the doctors to then come and pick up. When the docs arrive, they begin their work. The clinics are open anywhere from 7 or 8 until 2. If the patients don't get seen by the doctor because of too many patients, they must return the next day, pay the fee again and wait in line again! Even though it's only 5 limps, to some of these people that can make all the difference. Plus, in order to get to the hospital, they most likely took a taxi which can be 20-30 limps one way. All these things add up. Then after they finally see the doctor, there are about a dozen or so meds that are available at the hospital (mostly pediatric meds) otherwise the rest they have to purchase at a pharmacy. When patients are admitted to the hospital, they don't get their own room; it is wards. It is about a 20-25 bed hospital. The only thing that is supplied to the patient really is a bed. If they need any meds or IV's or what not while there, a family member or friend must take a prescription to a pharmacy in order to get it filled and then return with it. No stat orders will be given here! Then, the labor and delivery- mother's are lined up in the hallway waiting to get wheeled into the delivery room. Some don't even make it into the delivery room before they give birth. And, there was also this lady while we were there, just chilling in the hallway resting with an IV drip hanging on the wall above her delivering some sort of medication I'm assuming. So, next time you go into the hospital or clinic think twice before you begin to complain- things are far worse in many other places!
Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! By the looks of many pictures it appears as though fun was had by many!
Peace and Love! Laura
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