Catholic Healthcare West

     Last week the doctors from Catholic Healthcare West came down to Esquipulas to give free care to the people of the Chiquimula region who, because of money and distance, cannot see a doctor here in Guatemala.  While this meant free medical consulting and medicine to the people of Chiquimula and a chance to do a really good thing for the doctors, this also helped ease me into being alone here at the monastery after Kenan's departure.  It was a fast paced week of working in the clinic, traveling, and enjoying the opportunity to pretend I'm back home by speaking English and drinking beer with some really cool people.  However, this was not my greatest week in terms of taking pictures.  I guess I clam up when everyone in the group is taking the same picture I was thinking about taking, so this blog will be completely without pictures until the doctors have a chance to send me theirs.
     Our first day with the doctors was spent with a trip to Horcones and Timushán, two Aldeas about  a 1.5 hour, or 50 Km drive from Esquipulas.  My group went to Timushán, about 2 Km from the Honduras border.  After the adventure of getting there (we rode in the back of a pickup over "roads" that barely resemble mountain bike courses), we began setting up and some of us realized that we were in over our heads.  Some people struggled with spanish, some with seeing the great disparities between what we have and consider normal and what these people have and consider normal, I struggled with having to realize my Mom's dream for me.  5 years after I almost went to pharmacy school, I spent one week working as a pharmacy technician in Guatemala and realized the bullet I dodged all those years ago.  At first I struggled with drug names and reading the doctors writing, I eventually got the hang of it.  By the end of the week, I was cruizing along, and only struggling with the doctors' writing.  Seriously, what looks like the number 2?  Nothing.  Why, then, do doctors see the need to write ii with a line over it?  I see that and I think "the second time derivative of pi." That is zero. That makes no sense.
     Anyways, the first day was quite an adventure, we saw a lot of people, gave out a lot of drugs, and ended the day having done a good thing, feeling good about ourselves, and worn out.
     The rest of the week kind basically followed that pattern, and fell into a rhythm from there.  The pharmacists I was working with, Liz, and I spent all of our time at the Centro de Salud in Esquipulas.  It was a busy week, the doctors estimate that they saw 125 people per clinic per day.  Sick people need medicine, so that meant that Liz and I were busy behind the pharmacy counter.  It was also a fun time; like I said, I enjoyed speaking English and it was really fun to show some new people the place that has become my home over the last 2 months. 
     The week did have its share of bumps in the road.  From health promoters charging the people for telling them about the free clinic and denying them access if they couldn't pay (that operation was shut down as soon as we found out about it) to someone forgetting to alert the people in the aldeas that the doctors were in town (and the subsequent radio advertisement for free medical aid to cover the mistake) we met each hurdle and were able to get over it.  However, near the end of the week there was one problem that proved too much even for all the doctors who still wanted to stay and help the people.
     Because I generally lack the soft touch and even handedness that accompanies politically correctness, I will defer to the doctors' blog to describe the incident.  From http://missionsblog.chwhealth.org/.

Though our goal is to serve as many patients as possible on these missions, the safety of our team members is the foundation upon which all our work is built. As our mission progressed we encountered a few disheartening thefts from our rooms at the basilica. The monks graciously refunded us what we lost. We were of one mind about continuing the mission and set about setting up our clinics the next day.

But when it was discovered that the spare keys to our rooms had gone missing, and that re-keying all the locks was impossible on such short notice, we felt we had to make the difficult decision to bring everyone home early in order to ensure their safety.

We are heartbroken that we could not finish our last two clinic days, but are confident that the basilica will take steps to ensure that future guests are well cared for. This is a set-back, but we are resolute in our mission of caring for those in need and we do believe we'll be back in Esquipulas next year.
     Thus ended the adventures of the Catholic Healthcare West in Esquipulas.  Who knows, maybe in 20 years I'll be laying on a psychiatrists bed and the abandonment issues from Kenan and the Doctors will surface.  For now, even though they had to leave under unhappy circumstances, I am comforted by thinking about all the great things that we did while they were here.  From the people who benefited from the peace of mind of seeing a doctor, to the malnourished children who were put back on the right path with dietary supplements (plumpy nut!) and anti worm pills, all the way to the chronic patients who were left enough medicine to last them until the next group of doctors arrive, the impact of this visit was very positive in Esquipulas.  And not only for the sick, but for the people who received counseling ranging from what foods to eat/avoid all the way to just boiling water, and for the nurses who sat in on lectures given by the doctors, and for the med students who got real experience working alongside the doctors.  These doctors made a positive impact here in Esquipulas, even though their trip can't be remembered without thinking of the sadder circumstances, I am made happy by thinking of the happier ones.