After spending the past few weeks in the pediatric unit of the local government hospital here in Quiche, Guatemala, my fellow-nurse and teammate and I ventured out to explore more about local medicine and culture.
Monday we wandered into the clinic wing of the hospital (think Urgent Care/Fast Care), explained who we were, and asked if we could help with anything. (Limitation: my Spanish vocabulary.) We were told we couldn’t do anything without proper ID and garb, but were soon fitted with lab coats and put to work obtaining patient vitals, removing staples, wound care, etc.
Tuesday, along with about 8 other people, we piled into the back of a tiny pickup truck and rode about an hour to our host’s remote clinic for the day. There we assisted with patient assessments, vitals, injections, ultrasounds, and evaluations. I enjoyed teaching squad-mates how to perform various nursing activities.
Wednesday we traveled with 2 doctors and 2 nurses associated with Agape in Action (our mission here in Guatemala) to another town to help set up a day clinic in a local school. There were lines of people waiting when we arrived, and we were told they’d been waiting since 1:00 or 2:00 am to be seen and treated. Again, we assisted with obtaining vitals, checking blood sugars, and doing some preliminary assessments for the physicians.
Thursday we met a big goal! For the past few weeks we’d been telling various people we worked with in the hospital that we’d like to get into the Operating Room to see a surgery. Everyone said, “You have to know the doctors to get permission” or “There are a bunch of new doctors now and I don’t know them or I’d introduce you to them”. Nothing too helpful or promising Finally, through an unlikely contact (a janitor, I believe), we met the right people and were granted entrance into the OR, along with 2 non-nurse teammates.
(photo credit: Josef Kainrad)
Between Thursday and Friday we saw about 5 cesarean sections, a hernia repair (in which I scrubbed in), 2 meningocele repairs, and a traumatically fractured arm reduced. We got to build some good relationships with doctors, anesthesiologists, nursing staff, and techs in the OR. It made for a very interesting few days. Overall, I was impressed with the sterile technique and the professionalism. There were a few things that were very different than my previous OR experience, particularly related to the environment: rust on the bottoms of shelves, stools, etc. (actually what our guys were working on in the shop–sanding and repainting OR equipment), mildew on the walls, the warm OR temperature, and the Stihl [shop?] drill used during the orthopedic surgery.
But it was an amazing opportunity to be able to learn about and observe more in-depth how medicine works here in Guatemala.
This week: Yesterday was our last official day of ministry here in Guatemala. It’s so hard to believe that our first month/country is nearly completed! This morning we had a little celebration with the entire squad for the pediatric patients and families for the “day of the child”. Tomorrow is a big cleaning and packing day at the house, and Thursday at 4:00 am we start on our 24 hour bus ride to Grenada, Nicaragua. We’ll be spending about 5 days in Grenada for our first squad debrief time before the teams disperse and our team travels to Managua. Our team has an interesting assignment for this next month. We are to explore new contacts/missions/locations for future racers. So we are going to Managua without having everything prearranged, as it would normally be.
Pray for us in this: for safety, wisdom, and that we would be led to the right people at the right time. We have no idea what we’re getting into, so it feels a little scary, but exciting too!
Thanks to you all for your support and prayers. We love and miss you mucho!
