Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas to all!  While Christmas wasn't quite the same for me this year, it definately will be one to remember.  My Christmas really came a week early with a surprise visit from my parents.  It was Wednesday afternoon, we had gotten done with clinic early that day, and Peggy said that she needed to go to the airport to pick up some packages and wanted to know if I wanted to go along for the ride, she was going to stop at the grocery store as well.  So I thought, why not, I have nothing better to do.  As we walked into the airport, I had in my mind we were picking up packages, so we would find them at the continental office.  Out of customs walks this guys that looks like my dad, but no, what would he be doing in Roatan?!  And besides, he just kept walking right on by.  Bt wait, am I just seeing things, or is that mom right behind him?!?  It can't be can it??  Needless to say, it took me a minute to register what I was seeing, I was left speechless, very surprised, and excited to see them!  So began my Christmas.  Over the course of the next 6 days, we would work at the clinic, tour the east end of the island, take a water taxi into the mangroves, eat seafood on the beach as the sun sets, cook together, eat together, and just simply enjoy one anothers company.  Wonderful!  I love my parents...and my whole family!
Over this past week, there was one incident at the clinic that has really stuck with me and will remain with me forever.  There were these 3 little kids, all brothers and sisters- a 12 yr old boy, a 7 or 8 yr old girl, and a 2 or 3 year old boy.  The 2 boys needed to be seen by the doctor and the sister was just along with them.  The kids looked so sad and you could tell that the little boy could use a diaper change.  Upon bringing them into the triage room, I realized they didn't have any parents with them.  When I asked them where their parents were, the 12 yr old answered by saying their mom was in Coxen Hole.  Oh no, this is not good news for them.  We are not allowed to see patients at the clinic without some adult with them.  My mom and I finished triaging them, I confirmed with Dr. Rafael that we could not see them, and then I told the receptionist this.  She then told me that the mom was just out in the car.  Ok, these kids will get to be seen.  However, when Dr. Rafael went out to get them, they had no parents.  He came back in to tell me their parents had left and we will not be able to see them.  Are you serious?  These kids look and sound sick, how can we not treat them.  But, we must follow protocol.  After a few minutes, the receptionist comes up to me and says that Dr. Rafael has agreed to see the children, if I am willing to go with them.  Of course I will!  So, when it was again their turn, I went out to get them and my heart just melted.  Here, a couple women that had been sitting on the porch of the clinic with their own kids, are changing the little boy's diaper, they had gotten them all a pastelita and juice.  What stong sense of community and family they were showing to these kids that none of them knew!  Into the doctor's office I went with my sick children.  The older boy had been having fever and chills, not eating well, and headaches-- he will need to go get some labs done to test for malaria and dengue fever.  When he was brought back to the clinic with his labs, again he was alone so I took him in and the results showed positive for malaria.  A course of medications and he should be as good as new.  The little boy came in with a nasty cough, runny nose, and fussy-- turns out he had croup and bronchitis.  A few antibiotics and he, too, will hopefully be set to go.  I am soo happy that we were able to help these children.  It really made my day.  Then after clinic that day, we had a Christmas party for the kids.  When we walked out of clinic to all the kids anxiously awaiting, here were those 3 children sitting off to the side under a tree waiting for their ride-- but also, they were on the outside looking in.  I couldn't just leave them there, so I immediately went over to them and invited them to join in the party.  Then when their ride got their, I made sure their parents and pastor understood the medications, I got the kids some cookies and sent them on their way.  Oh what a blessing those kids were to me that day.  It made me sad to see them there alone and fending for themselves (to some degree), but they are the reason I love doing what I am doing!
Christmas Eve I was able to go out on the dock to soak up some sun, so it didn't quite seem like Christmas, but it was nice none the less.  Along with soaking up some sun, we met up with a group that was doing a food drive on the island and went into the Colonia to deliver bags of food to families.  Four vehicles went into the colonia, each with 75 bags of food; what a different way to spend Christmas.  We have so much that I think we forget just how much others don't have, especially on the holidays.  As I talked to people in the colonia asking them what they were doing for Christmas, a common response was nothing, we have no money this year.  How sad!  They didn't have gifts, they didn't have food, the whole spirit of the season just really seemed to be gone.
Then Christmas day was filled with some adventures and lessons!  A volunteer was coming in at 1:15 so I went to the airport along with one of the boys from the colonia and another volunteer.  We waited for nearly an hour before her flight finally landed at 1:45.  After greeting her, we headed out to the truck, got all loaded up, only to find that the truck didn't want to start.  Great!  Why don't we try popping the clutch?  Ok, sounds good to me.  So Heather, Moises, and Johanna got out to give me a push, but no such luck.  Well, let's try the jumper cables.  I'll go get Paul, a guy I knew that was at the airport.  As we are hooking up the jumper cables, it is starting to rain and the cables don't have rubber on the handles so they risked getting electrocuted to hook them up.  Attempt #2 at starting the truck?  Unsuccessful!  So we called Dee and him and his friend came to help us get it started.  Turns out that in order to pop the clutch, you have to be in 2nd gear, and release the clutch and push on the gas after being given a push.  Who knew?!  So we go to leave the airport only to kill the engine and we need to pop the clutch again.  Now onto the gas station.  It at the top of a hill and I know that there are arrows on the ground marking which way you are supposed to drive into the lanes, but by the time I got up there it was too late to change lanes.  Oh well, it's Christmas, so not many people are out needing gas right?  Well the guy working the pump wants me to change lanes, but I inform him the only way to start my truck is by giving it a push.  So he reluctantly fills up with gas and then waits for us to go.  Since I was waiting for Dee to pay he tells me he can give me a push.  Here I am sitting at the top of a hill that leads right into the main road and this guy wants to push me down it...are you serious?!  Down we went!  But, the first 2 times weren't quite enough for me, so I didn't quite remember all the steps to popping the clutch so let's just say a perfect hill and spot for it and I failed....oops!  Alright, 3rd times a charm.  Truck in 2nd gear, check! Clutch released after getting a push, check!  Lots of gas, check! And we're off- this vehicle isn't stopping until we get home!  Now, not only do I know how to drive a stick shift, but I know how to pop a clutch on one as well- and I thought I was only going to learn things about nursing while volunteering :)
Well, I hope everyone is having a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!  As much as I wish I could be home celebrating with each and every one of you, I know that this year God has been using me in other ways.  Take some time to look around and count your blessings.  Look at this holiday season not for the consumerism, but for the true meaning of Christmas- the birth of our Lord, Jesus.
Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays!
xoxo

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

Christmas tree at the Cruise Ship Port

Christmas is starting to hit full force....in all forms (fortunately and unfortunately).  Christmas lights are starting to pop up here and there; while there aren't (and probably won't be) many, there are some and they are exciting to see.  Saturday afternoon, I went with Bob and Debi into Coxen Hole where there was supposed to be a parade followed by time with Santa and a Christmas tree lighting.  Well, as like most things here, it started fashionably late, the parade which was supposed to start the festivities, ended up being halfway through the festivities, and there were bits of chaos.  The tree lighting of course wouldn't take place until dark, but since I had another function to get to (yes, believe it or not I had something on my schedule!), we did not get to see the lighting.  The part that we did get to see though, was quite exciting.  There is a lady, Debra, living here on the island that used to be a music teacher in California.  She now works with children on the island and runs a steel drum band.  That was pretty cool.  If I figure out how to add videos on here, I will put up a video of it!  Following this, I went with Miss Peggy and the staff of the clinic to a Rotarian Christmas Gala.  It was a nice social evening, filled with delicious food and good company.  There were some raffles and auctions that also took place.  One of the items being raffled off was a tour of the RECO, the electric company.  I tried to get Alison, our administrator, to bid on it for a field trip for the clinic staff, but she wouldn't.....darnit!  It ended up going for $250- aka, probably not in our budget :p ; guess we will just have to go for a free tour sometime haha.  Christmas festivities continued on Sunday with a Caroling Christmas Party at Debra's house.  There were probably a dozen of us that gathered together and sang Christmas carols for an hour, ate appetizers, chili, bread, and desserts, while drinking some hot cider (all homemade!)-- what a wonderful evening we had!

The Steel Drum Band

While we had a great weekend filled with Christmas festivities, there were also some downfalls to the weekend.  During the 2 hrs that we left to take some people to the airport on Saturday in the early afternoon, our home was broken into and robbed.  Out of the 3 of us, Jess was hit the hardest as she lost all of her electronics, where as I only lost some jewelry and a phone, and we all lost some food.  Someone's eating good right now!  I guess things could have been worse and we remain hopeful that maybe some of the stuff will get returned, but it was only material things that walked away and life will go on.  After all, material things are simply that and they are purely here for comfort.  The day will come when we are at our judgment and we will not have these things with us; what we will have are all those things that we have learned, all the actions that we have performed, and the journey that we took.  What does your slate look like if judgment day came tomorrow?  Would it be full of material things that are no longer there?  Or would there be experiences, actions, and lessons learned that you are proud of?  In this time of advent, this time of preparation for the birth of Jesus, are we prepared to readily greet Him at any moment?  What is standing between you and Him?  Is it something that you can change?  Think about it- it's worth some thought.

Clinic life hasn't brought about anything too exciting this past week.  More of the typical diabetes, hypertension patients with various other things throughout the week.  Saw another machete cut today...this one was a few days old and unfortunately infected :(  The girl was 14 yrs old and this was her first time ever coming to the doctor- wouldn't you know, first time in and she had to get a shot.  Bummer!  Luckily she had my good steady hand and I think it was pretty much pain free.  Hopefully her infection will heal up quickly as the cut was on her foot and it is preventing her from being able to walk :(  English tutoring is continuing at the school, bringing with it it's continued challenges.  The part that we find most frustrating is that these kids do not have the basics of the english language down, yet they are trying to learn information that would be taught at a 3rd grade level.  While I feel like we should/need to be working on the basics, she has all this homework that is not getting done so I also feel like we should be working on that.  Some days I feel like we make progress, and then other days I feel like we get nowhere.  Since I work with her for only 2 hrs a week, there is only so much that I can do.  The other frustrating thing is that the teacher is Honduran and has very poor written (and therefore probably spoken) english-- meaning, that they kids are probably hearing a bit more spanish in class then they are supposed to be.  When we get to school in the afternoons we will see the kids and they are of course speaking to one another in spanish.  No matter how many times we remind them to speak in english, they always revert back to spanish.  Sometimes I question how much effort they put into practicing their english.  Are they benefiting from the education that they are paying for and receiving?  I can only hope and pray that some day this will all pay off and benefit them.  For now, I guess we will just keep doing what we're doing and see what happens.

News tells me that the Viking dome has collapsed in, the giant Christmas tree in Sioux Falls was blown over from the blizzard, and snow is everywhere!  I wish I could say the same about here (at least the snow bit) but the only thing we have collapsing here are the waves upon themselves!  This weekend we were blessed with very nice weather.....up into the 80s!  Can't really complain about that (except when you love the winter and are ready for a change in seasons....I'm not sure how someone could live in the same season year round...I sure can't!).

Today I got my visa renewed for another 3 months, so looks like I'll be staying here for a while!  Hope you are all staying warm!  I'll work on my tan a little extra hard, just for all of you ;)

A Heart of Righteousness

Last week the focus for advent was Mary and a heart of surrender.  This week we look at Joseph and a heart of righteousness.  Having a heart of righteousness is something that we struggle with on a daily basis.  Often times we can over look what is right to do because it’s not what we want to do.  Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in what we are doing that we forget to take time and say God what is it that You want us to be doing?  Is what we are doing the right thing or should we be putting our focus into something else?  Over the course of the past three months I have started to be able to see this.  Life here is a lot slower than life back in the states.  Being here, I only have one real focus currently in mind- volunteering at the clinic, helping out those most in need.  There is nothing else on my “schedule”.  Heck, who am I kidding, I don’t even have a schedule here.  I can readily do whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it (for the most part that is).  Having all this time, I have had time to really focus on righteousness.  What is the right thing for me to do—not because I want to do it, but because that is what God is calling me to do?  Just like Joseph in the Christmas story.  After he found out that Mary was with child, he was ready to “divorce her quietly” because how could that be?  But then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream to explain it to him.  After that moment, he knew that it was right for him to stay with Mary, maybe he didn’t want to stay with her at the time being, but it was the right thing, it was God’s will.

Clinic this week brought with it some new and exciting things.  There is a psych nurse that has been on the island for quite a few years, but she is now going to start doing some psych work with the clinic!  Twice this past week she came in to do some initial psych evaluations on patients and I got to translate for her…who knew that my Spanish was that good already!?  While we uncovered some very
devastating things about what has been happening in these people’s lives, such as various forms of abuse, I can only anticipate the great help that we will be able to offer these people.  It brings me comfort to know that they were willing to open up to us so that we will be able to adequately serve them and help them.  This past week we also welcomed a volunteer from London, so I’ve been spending some of my clinic time getting her all orientated as well.  One of the med students that is here currently shared with us a presentation on diabetes and its treatment courses and afterwards I had a new idea pop into my head about ways that I could possibly do health education, but in a different fashion.  Instead of directly outreaching to the people and preaching to them, we could work on keeping the medical personnel up to date in research and also encourage them to pass this information onto patients.  One thing that I heard this past week was that no matter what you tell these people, a lot of times they won’t always hear it.  Maybe if we start with giving education at an individual level (with the providers to the patients), we will better reach these people at a community level.  Then as we begin/do health education outreach to the local community they will receive it a little better.  Another thing that I have learned is that no matter what I, as a nurse, or what a provider tells them, a lot of what they believe is based on their own experiences, either personally or through friends
and families.  In order to change their thought on something, such as the need to take insulin when your blood sugar is 539 (normal is 70-110) and oral medications are not working, can be very intensive and often times it can be like talking to a wall.  Why don’t they want to do it?  Because they believe diabetics that are taking insulin end up with their legs amputated—when actually this happens
because of uncontrolled diabetes.  This is just one of the many myths that we will try laboriously to dispel.  With time, hopefully we will get there.  So with those thoughts in mind, that’s where I am headed for the next while.  We shall see what I come up with!

Peace and Blessings this holiday season!

Laura

'Tis the Season

There are so many things to celebrate this time of year.  First, we just finished with Thanksgiving—and what a good thanksgiving it was!  For being in a nation that does not celebrate Thanksgiving (for obvious reasons—the pilgrims did not land on their land!), I had 2 spectacular celebrations.  The first was a Thanksgiving potluck with rChurch.  It was held at Keyhole Bay, next to the pool, on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea.  The weather was perfect and the view was spectacular…especially when all 3 cruise ships passed by, in the dark of night, all lit up!  Sorry to those of you that were at home all bundled up with snow outside….truly I am, I do miss the snow!  Following that celebration, on Thanksgiving Day we went down the road to a small little resort that served a full Thanksgiving meal.  I must say, I never used to like Thanksgiving meal all that much, but this year the meals were exceptionally good (maybe it’s due to my lack of a variety of food from day to day, but delicious none the less).  The activities of Thanksgiving Day itself, are truly ones that I will never forget.  In the recent rainstorms that we had, there were 4 houses that were washed away from a mudslide in the Colonia leaving 26 people with absolutely nothing.  They are staying in a church in the Colonia, with nothing.  Therefore, we took them a box and a few bags of clothes, a few pillows, 3 deck chairs, some shoes, and a couple bags of rice (all things that had been given to us through cruise ship donations).  What a heartwarming experience.  On a day specifically set aside for us to think about all the things we are thankful for, I was able to share some of those things with people that had nothing.  How their faces lit up!

As of yesterday, we are now entering the Advent Season.  While some may call it the Christmas season, that season actually begins with Christmas Day itself.  Currently we are in a time of waiting and preparation; preparing ourselves for the coming of our Lord.  Some may be familiar with the Advent wreath, others may not.  There are 4 candles around the wreath, representing the 4 weeks of advent, and one in the center, the Christmas candle.  Every week, a new candle is lit, and a prayer focus is set for the week ahead.  The third candle is pink unlike the others which are purple, to signify that Christmas is nearing, but we still must continue to push through to the end and work to prepare ourselves for this special time.  Debi held a little prayer service last night in which we lit the first candle and reflected on this time that is upon us.  We talked about the candles and the wreath.  What I found interesting is that some people put a standard meaning to each candle.  At first I thought this was something that I remembered doing growing up, but now that I think about it, the candles never represented anything in particular, just a time of waiting and preparation.  So let me share with you these meanings; each represents a different part of the Christmas story.  This week we focused on Mary and her willingness to say yes to God; her willingness to give up everything and say to God, not my will, but yours be done.  Wow!  How would we respond if God were to tell us that we were hand chosen and we must completely put our future in His hands?  Could we do it?  Would we be able to give up our future dreams and simply be 100% willing to fully serve Him and do His will?  How would our life change if right now God appeared to us asking us to serve Him like He did with Mary?  So many things to think about- most of which I cannot even begin to wrap my head around right now.  Continuing on with the other candles- one is for the shepherds, another for the 3 kings, one for the angels, and the final, the Christmas candle, for Jesus.  This Advent season I know I will miss all the Christmas cheer that can be seen in the storefront windows and all throughout the city.  However, I will get to see something even greater.  I will be able to see people that are so thankful for what little they have.  Christmas has a whole different meaning to the people here.  Gifts aren’t the same here as what we typically expect to see under the tree.  There are not many toys to be had, nor could they even afford them if there were.  Christmas will not be materialized like I’m used to, but it will give me time to really reflect on the season and what it really is all about; it will give me a new, refreshed view of the heart of the holidays.

Therefore, I challenge all of you to join me in taking the time to really reflect on the true meaning of the holidays.  What things do we take for granted on a daily basis that many others would do anything to have?  How can we reach out to others in need this Christmas?  Whether it be our time, talent, treasure, or prayers, I hope that each of us can find a deeper meaning in the Advent and Christmas season this year.

A Time for Thanksgiving

Being that it is Thanksgiving tomorrow (or rather today), I thought I would take some time to think about and reflect on the things that I am thankful for-- things that I have come to realize and appreciate even more since being in Honduras, things we don’t often always think about.

JD with 3 of the students we tutor-
Oscar, Vanessa, and Emy

1. Education- As I have blogged about before, I am volunteering twice a week at the bi-lingual alternative school across the street from the clinic.  There are many people that attend this school, but not without a price.  Many of the students are children that are here from the US, but a number of the students are also from the Colonia, living under very poor conditions.  The students at the school are of all ages and understand English to varying degrees.  I was talking with one of the American students the other day and asked him how old he was, to which he replied, "I'm 6 and I'm in 2nd grade."  Now as most of you know, a 6 yr old in the states would be in either kindergarten or 1st grade-- not 2nd!  However, here it is not uncommon to have children of all ages in all classes-- mostly because of comprehension levels.  Any student that attends the bi-lingual schools must pay to attend.  For some this is not an issues; for many, it is of great cost to them and they would not be able to attend if it were not for scholarships and people willing to sponsor their schooling.  Upon completion of primary school (or secondary school, for those that make it), children typically go to find work and/or start a family.  It is not uncommon for people to start having children young here, partially because in order to go to university it means moving away from the island and being able to afford it.  So why is education something I'm thankful for?  Because I was privileged enough to be able to attend a private school and receive a solid education- not only through high school but on through college and soon to be grad school.  I did not have to struggle on a daily basis to be able to understand what my teacher was telling me (even though it may have sounded like gibberish to me, at least it was in my native tongue!)

2. Faith- My faith has been a part of me ever since I was born.  I grew up going to church, attended private school all the way through college, and was involved in youth group.  Once I got to Roatan, I didn’t know where my faith would take me.  One of the other volunteers is also Catholic, so the first weekend, we were able to go to church together.  However, it was all in Spanish, so even though I was able to follow the mass, I understood very little.  Lucky for me, there is a bilingual mass on Saturday nights—perfect!  After going to the Spanish mass for nearly a month, it was nice to be able to go to mass, understand what was going on, and sing songs of praise.  There is also another church that I go to with the rest of the volunteers on Sunday mornings that is non-denominational and to me, is more like a praise and worship time.  It reminds me very much of MAGIS, a praise group we had at college.  Over the course of these 2 months, I have also seen my faith grow in the where I see God.  I have been able to see God at work in many different ways.  It is really quite amazing the things we miss out on when we are so wrapped up in our everyday lives that we can’t see God hard at work.  We are so quick to assume that God has left us high and dry when something goes wrong; however, everything happens for a reason and God works on his timeline, not ours.  He will allow things to happen, but not until we are adequately prepared for it.  This is only a glimpse into how I am thankful for my faith; hopefully as the year goes on, I will be able to give you more insight into this topic.

3. Communication- Communication is one of those things that we use on a daily basis, whether it in conversation, email, messenger, phone, or snail mail.  Being in Honduras has given me a new perspective on this.  Every day I go to work and wonder if we will have mainly English speakers or Spanish speakers.  What kinds of things will I need to say or understand today that I won’t be able to?  Having a language barrier has really opened my eyes to what people go through on a daily basis.  Those people that are living in the US and cannot understand English very well go through the same thing that I go through as I am trying to speak with patients in the clinic.  One may be able to assume that it could be frustrating to not be able to understand what someone is trying to tell you.  But when you are actually in that position, it can get frustrating very quickly if what you are trying to communicate is not getting communicated. 

Even though the postal service is not as busy as it once was, I have always loved to get mail.  Ever since I was 4 or 5, I would eagerly await the coming of the mailman in the afternoon.  Without a doubt, I would be standing at the end of the driveway when the mailman approached.  For the next 18 years, whenever the mailman came, I would always go out and greet him with a smile and make small talk with him.  Oh how I miss those days.  Now, not only can I not receive/send mail without knowing someone coming to or leaving the island, I don’t even have a street address!  Not always having internet access or being able to pick up the phone and call whoever I want is also something that I think we often take for granted.  There has been several times where I’ve wanted to talk to someone, but had to wait for them to be online at the same time I was online.  Like now, for instance.  I go on Facebook to find out my brother was in an accident and his truck was totaled—no worries, he’s alright (so says Facebook), but do you suppose anyone is online to find out the story behind it?  Nope…guess that one will have to wait!  Thank goodness we have some extra guardian angels on our side!  (As I am writing this, I find out all he walked away with was a broken finger nail….haha, I think we will be able to handle that one!)

That being said, I’m thankful that I live in an area where my language is the native language and everyone can understand me.  I am thankful that I can send someone a card or a letter whenever I want, and I can check the mailbox or talk with the mailman every day as well.  I am thankful for being able to pick up the phone whenever I want to call whoever I want. 

Education, faith, and communication are the 3 big things that I am thankful for this year, especially now that I have been in an area in which these things are so much more real to me.  However, my list would not be complete without saying that I am thankful for my family and friends as well.  Without the support that I receive from all of you on a regular basis, I would not have to strength to be where I am today.  My success is in part due to the encouragement, support, and love from all of you.  Thank you for all your love, prayers, and support as I continue on my life journey of serving God in a way that I feel I have been called to do.

I challenge you to think past the typical things we are thankful for such as family and friends, and really consider what God has blessed you with.  What things do you take for granted every day?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Laura

A Day in the Life of...

...ME! a volunteer.



The hill leading up to the clinic

 The roosters start to crow; I think to myself- could it be morning already?  Oh no, that's right, the roosters crow at all hours during the early morning starting at about 2 or 3-- it's all the same right?!  Lucky for me, because I have a big family I am not a light sleeper and I can sleep through it.  But now it's 6 o'clock, the alarm is sounding-- do I have to get up?  That depends...do I need to get things accomplished before heading to the clinic? Do I want to take a shower before I go to work?  How fast can I get ready this morning?  Maybe just 15 more minutes of sleep.  As all these thoughts go through my head, I decide that a little more sleep won't hurt anything; after all it only takes 20 minutes to get ready and 5 minutes to walk to the clinic (that is as long as I'm not moving slowly lol).  Now it's getting to be 6:30 so I drag myself out of bed, get ready for the day, and head to the clinic.  Upon arriving at 7:30, I make sure everything's unlocked and the computers are up and running.  By this time, Angely, the secretary, has hopefully started to register patients so that we can begin triaging them before the doctors arrive around 8:30, island time!  The morning carries on with patients coming and going and tasks never ending.  If I am not triaging patients, I could be doing an assortment of things-- administering medications, assisting the docs with something, cleaning and sterilizing instruments, consulting with the doctors (to get a jump start on my future!), organizing supplies, translating handwriting, or answering questions.  The day is never dull, always something to do!

"John, how many patients do we have today?" I commonly ask around 11:30.  It's about this time that we all start to wonder, "are we going to be here all afternoon again or will we be done shortly?"  Depeding on the number of patients we have registered and the number of docs in the clinic, we finish seeing patients anywhere between noon thirty and 2:30. 

Dr. Raymond with a girl who had some bad pneumonia

Days that end early allow for more time in the sun!  Days that go longer allow for less free time in the afternoon.  While one may be preferrable to the other, as long as the time at the clinic is moving along quickly, it doesn't really matter which day it is--unless of course, it is sunny out and we haven't seen the sun in days or weeks! 

Afternoon is upon us and what should we do?  Well, it's time to catch up on emails and accomplish other work for the clinic (i.e. medication donation requests,

Our Vitamin D dock

thank you notes, health education plans, etc).  If the day is nice, we may take advantage of the sunlight (as it sets around 5/5:30) to get our needed Vitamin D and enhance our minds through reading.  Wednesdays at 2, Karla has prenatal classes; I have gotten roped into helping.  Not a bad thing though, cause I get to hear spanish for an hour, while learning all about prenatal stuff and being an extra resource for Karla as expectant mothers ask their questions. Jess and I also work with ESL students at the Sandy Bay Alternative School across the street from the clinic.  At 3:00 the school bell rings and kids take off for home.  However, there are a few students from the colonia that stay around afterwards to read or work on homework.  Vanessa is her name.  You've heard of her before; she is 11 years old, in 3rd grade, with even a lower english comprehension level.  She is my little girl for the next year.  Twice a week, we hang out after school and read, unless she has homework.  As time has gone by, I have started to pick up on the quirks of the english language that she isn't understanding-- contractions, pronouns, abstract words-- all the things that can be difficult to explain, of course!  While it makes tutoring a little more challenging, there has been so much progress already, and it's only been 2 months!  I can't wait until the end of the year!

The sun has set, but the night is still young.  What does one do in the dark?  Time to think about dinner but what shall we have?  Let's look in the fridge and throw something together.  Our diet has quickly been converted to a Honduran cuisine consisting of many tortillas and rice and beans.  Any given combination of ingredients from the fridge usually results in some sort of taco or tostada or casserole.  Depending on what's being streamed in Denver, sometimes dinner is followed with TV, other times with a movie or our new addiction, GLEE, or sometimes the evening is spent catching up with friends and families from home via Skype, facebook, or emails.  Bedtime can come quite early if it's allowed...sometimes as early as 9:00.  While it's tempting, at times, to give in, if I did it would be a day of drowsiness the following day.  So, I push it off as long as possible by raeding and doing other things and then finally hit the sack around 11/11:30.  My day is complete; time to reflect on the day and the people I touched, thank God for my blessings and pray about my shortfalls.  "Sweet dreams," I say, "see you en la manana!" 

So there you have, my (and most of the other clinic volunteers) day in a nutshell.  Variations of course do occur ranging from a night out with the teacher volunteers or a dinner meeting with one group or another.  But for the most part things are pretty low key.

In other news:

• Today I learned/watched Dr. Raymond remove an ingrown toenail. So the next time you have one, look me up, I'll probs be able to do it for you (maybe not legally, but socially).
• As I sit here, the winds are picking up; I think our past 5 days of sunshine are done and rain is on the horizon :( 
• One of our dogs had puppies this morning-- therefore, in addition to the 2 dogs and a cat, we now have 3 puppies.
• I think I'm developing allergies- to what I have decided; but, I'm thinking it could be from pets..hmm?
• Pictures are POSTED!  Check out the link on the right hand side of the blog :) http://picasaweb.google.com/home (or here)
• Oh and how could I forget...CMMB has a telecare series running right now.  The most current episode was on the medical volunteer program.  You can view it at http://www.cmmbheals.org/medical-volunteer-program and see me towards the end of it!

That's all folks!

<3

Bug Juice

It has been decided- the blood bank might not like my blood, but the mosquitos and sand flies sure do.  Saturday, one of the short term volunteers who was here for 2 weeks wanted to explore the island so Jess, John, and I went along for the expierence.  We started off by driving past the dump, which is massive!  Past the dump is a hydroponic lettuce farm that we stopped at to explore a little.  From there we went to the east end of the island where we were hoping to get a Jam and Jelly tasting...unfortunately they are only for tastings Mon-Fri....what about all those people that have to work during the week?!  But we did have lunch there and got to taste a little bit of their jelly on our cheesecake.  It was delicious...maybe I will have to make it out there some weekday.  After lunch, we ventured even further east to Camp Bay and Old Port Royal.  Once here we got out to enjoy the sun (which we hadn't seen for a least a good week!) and water.  In the 30 minutes that we spent on the beach, somehow I managed to get eaten alive!  Official count yesterday?  66 bites on my back, probably another 20-30 up and down my legs- what now?  I itch like crazy!!

Clinic these past couple weeks has been quite busy.  We have an OBGYN resident, 2 PAs (for one week), 3 ENT doctors (2 that only were here a week), and an oral surgeon all working with us.  Talk about a lot of doctors.  However, that always means lots of patients! Since we register 12-15 patients per doctor typically (when there are more than 2), that meant we were seeing 50-60 patients for about the past 2 weeks.  While one may think we would fly through the patients with all these doctors on hand, you would be wrong.  Our days usually did not end until 2:30/3:00 because even though we had all those doctors, most were specialty doctors.  Therefore, they only saw patients in their field of specialty, leaving the majority of the patients to the 2-3 general doctors/PAs.  But, we made it through and now they are all gone, so we are back down to 2 doctors: a general practitioner and a pediatrician.  The next few weeks/couple months should actually be fairly quiet as the volunteer calendar is looking kind of bare.  However, once we get to February, our volunteer calendar is packed!  Talk about one extreme to the other!  My work around the clinic has come to a plateau, although, that doesn't mean there is ever a dull day.  I stay quite busy around the clinic with triaging, passing medications, answering questions, and assisting the doctors.  I have even gotten to shadow a little with Dr. Rafael, our pediatrician.  Who knows, maybe by the time I'm finished here they will just let me bypass grad school and sit for my doctorate licensing- I know probably a long shot but one can dream right?!  Last week I came across some of the material that had previously been used to teach diabetic classes.  While it is all very thorough, I don't know if it was completely tailored to the culture here in Roatan.  I have also made a list of problems that we see day in and day out.  With these, I will soon begin brainstorming ways in which education to the patient population will be most effective.  Once I have that, I will hopefully be able to do some health education sessions.  From the sounds of it, there are also some groups in the spring that want to do some health education as well so that will be good.

Over the past few weeks, I have also gotten to see how God is working in many different ways.  Time after time, Peggy receives news of a generous donor, or a medical volunteer that wants to spend a significant amount of time in the clinic.  While this may be seen as something that is just a typical occurance with any non-profit organization, I don't think it's coincidental that prior to receiving any of this news, there has usually just recently been discussion about what we are going to do.  For example, about a month ago at the clinic board meeting, one of the topics of discussion was about opening the upstairs (pediatric and birthing center).  A big obstacle that has been holding us up has been finances.  While the clinic has enough money to keep the doors open, a common reason that non-profits don't make it, is because of going bankrupt; that is the last thing we want to happen.  Because of this, the opening has continually been pushed back as the board works on assuring that they will have the funds to keep both the downstairs running (during the day) and the upstairs runnin (24 hrs!).  About 2 weeks later, Peggy receives an answer to a prayer.  A foundation that she was told about several years ago, has finally gotten everything worked out, and therefore, the funds are no longer an issue!  Is there any other explanation except that God is good and gives us what we need, but not before we are ready for it?!  Between these events, the work that I am doing/seeing, and the books I have been reading, I have gained insight into a new population.  The work of a mission is spectacular work.  You never know what you are going to be faced with.  While I am currently experiencing the needs of the poor here in Roatan, I am learning about populations that exist within any region, no matter the geographical location.  Hmm, I wonder what's in store for my future after I make it through grad school?  Only time will tell, that I have also learned.  God's graces and plans for our lives can not be rushed; when the time is right, we will be know!

Have a good week!
Peace and Love
Laura