Just got off the phone with Tricia. She had called this morning but we got cut off 5 minutes into the conversation. Turns out, her cell phone ran out of minutes and she couldn’t break away from work until this evening to get another card!!
She spent the day in the clinic again today. She had help from the English-speaking nurse. She has a 4 year old so they traded stories all day. Tricia enjoyed that. She said that they had fewer patients so they could take more time with each one. She saw another pneumonia in a kid (though, not as young as Monday). Her last patient of the day had had a stroke!! Yikes. They gave her some Aspirin and sent her home. Tricia said the Pharmacy is stocked with a lot of meds she isn’t familiar with because they aren’t available in the US. Doctors from all over the world bring meds with them and so there are things she has never seen before. It’s been a challenge trying to figure out what things are and how to use them!!
Tricia spent some time today putting together a spreadsheet that lists all the meds they had in the pharmacy and what they needed. She did another one for the Guatemalan nurse that helps with pediatric dosing for antibiotics. The nurse didn’t know that he was supposed to dose the medication based on the patient’s weight. He was just giving everybody the same dose!! Tricia taught him how to do things right and left a tool for him to use to keep doing it right!
She says she is learning to make do with what she has. Something is better than nothing. She has been able to teach a lot – both to the patients and to the staff. She thinks that when she leaves things will hopefully be better.
She remains in good spirits – despite Montezuma peeking his revengeful head around the corner!! She’s a little homesick and is looking forward to a warm shower and a night without bug bites.
The price you pay for altruism.
J