September 3, 2010 - Sue Writing
This week has been a little less hectic since it is the 5th week of the month so there are no students at the clinic. We have not gone out on any mobile clinics and have covered the Hillside clinic in the mornings and then used the rest of the time to do projects at the clinic. Maria, the nurse practitioner at the clinic and I met with the director or the Punta Gorda Ministry of Health clinic (called the Poly clinic) to discuss having Hillside provide some additional services at our clinic including Tetanus vaccine, contraception, PAP smears and blood drawing. So it looks like I will need to brush up on my (very rusty) pelvic exam and blood drawing skills. Adding these services will allow Hillside to function more like the Poly clinics. I am now in the process of writing up protocols for the clinic to have in place before we can provide these additional services.
Last Saturday Len and I decided to travel by bus to Placencia, a narrow, sandy peninsula about 2 hours from us that is a resort type area with nice beaches. We stopped at the market on the way to by a few things and made the 8 AM bus. Just as the bus was pulling out from the station Len asked for the Swiss army knife to open up an orange. Can you see where this is going? He promptly cut his hand, blood dripping down his shorts. Luckily I had a small first aid kit with me. We were able to stop the bleeding, then proceeded to get off the bus, walked back to the house and drove up to the clinic so I could put 5 stitches in his hand. It is healing nicely, despite the fact that 3 of the 5 stitches have already come out (Another skill I need to brush up on). We then decided to catch the 10 AM bus to Placencia. After waiting 1 hour at the bus stop we decided we were not meant to go to Placencia that weekend and spent a lovely restful weekend at home.
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| The scene of the accident "Belize is where old school buses go to die" |
Tomorrow the new students start to arrive. Len will pick them up and drive them up to the clinic and get them settled in. I will join him for some of the multiple trips from the airport to the clinic. We are meeting a friend, Joyce, the previous Hillside administrator, who we became friends with when we were here before, for lunch tomorrow. Sunday there is a “Labor Day” party at the home of some ex-pats that we are invited to.
All in all things are going very well. Len and I are feeling very comfortable in PG and are very integrated into the clinic. While we are busy and working hard, there is not the stress level that we had at home. We are up by 6 AM (Len is often up earlier). Len runs 5 or 6 days a week, first thing in the morning, and I join him 2 days a week. We leave for the clinic by 7:30 and start seeing patients around 8 AM (or leave for mobile clinic at 8 AM, depending on the schedule). Len usually works at least part of the day at the clinic. Afternoons are spent teaching the students or doing community education programs with them if I am not out on a mobile clinic. We are usually home by 5 PM. There are a few evening programs, either with the students or in the communities. If we are home early we may go for a walk or sit on the porch or roof and read or work before dinner. We are in bed by 9 PM at the latest. The sun goes down here by 6 PM.
