Well, I had hoped to get this started a little earlier, but lack of internet access at the volunteer house in Santa Cruz has slowed me down a bit. Not to mention the time needed to figure out my responsibilities here and how to carry them out in my broken Spanish.
Anyway, I’m in Santa Cruz, Bolivia until the end of July volunteering for a rural clinic that provides medical care to some communities outside the city with few health resources. It was founded by two American doctors and one Bolivian doctor in 2001. Check out the website for more info on the clinic: http://hamantfoundation.org/centromedico/index.php
Here’s a quick summary of the first week:
Monday – Medical student volunteers picked me up and took me back to the house for breakfast prepared by the housekeeper, Nico. After breakfast, we spent the morning at Galene, the private clinic directed by Douglas Villarroel, the local supervisor of Centro Medico Humberto Parra. Spent the afternoon at a café at the Cine Center (fancy shopping center with restaurants and movie theaters) talking with David, an American who has lived here for five years, getting a sense of the role and current status of community associations in the provision of care from the clinic.
Tuesday – Spent the morning at Hospital Japones with a patient who needed surgery for his goiter. He was seen by the surgeon who requested that he have a pre-operative cardiology screening that afternoon. That afternoon, I accompanied him and another patient (with congestive heart failure) to the cardiologist.
Wednesday – My first day at the rural site. I met Maria and Guinda, the nurses who run the clinic, as well as Dr. Vargas, one of the doctors from the hospital in Portechuelo who helps out one day per week. We were actually located in the church building in Palacios because the bridge to get to the clinic is down. The medical students saw patients, and I managed anything that required more specialized tests or doctors that needed to be done in Santa Cruz. A local family provided our lunch, and we drove back to Santa Cruz after lunch.
Thursday – We saw patients at the health post in Arboleda with Dr. Alejandro. We totally took over the post, so I’m not sure what goes on there when we aren’t there. This facility has a lab technician, allowing basic urinalysis and blood tests to be done.
Friday – At the health post in Arboleda with Dr. Mario. The biggest community group was assigned to be seen, and there were loads of patients. Unfortunately, Dr. Mario walked off at about 3 pm. David and I had planned a meeting with the leaders of the community groups, so we were all quite tired when we pulled out at 5:30. I had planned to drive back (my first time here!), and it was dark by 6:00.
Saturday – Relaxed morning in the city walking around with Andrew, one of the medical students. In the afternoon we had scheduled a visit to the home of a patient in Santa Cruz, but showed up 1.5 hours late because we couldn’t find the house and didn’t have an address! Finally we got there and had a nice visit. At night we had a small gathering for Veronica, one of the students who lives in the volunteer house and had her birthday.
Sunday (today) – Relaxed morning, and spent the afternoon at a café with free wireless. Met some Americans who are Jehovah’s witness volunteers constructing new facilities at the branch here. There was a PCV at the table next to us, but I resisted the temptation to butt in on her lunch. I went home and made peanut butter cookies.
Whew! I hope to post more frequently from now on and plan to include more photos.
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