Saturday, March 15

    Today was Sabbath, a day of rest, so we started the morning by eating breakfast and reading the Bible. We prepared for the church service, which was at the location of the church that we are going to build this week. The church members currently worship under an awning outside. The pastor told us they have been praying for a church building for fifteen years! Both members of our group and their congregation contributed to the service. Also, we had people who translated the service from English to Spanish and vice versa. After church, we mingled with the community members and helped clean up. Then, we went back to where we are staying and ate a quick lunch. After lunch, we visited Jardín Botánico de Santiago (The Botanical Gardens of Santiago). We walked around the gardens and saw many interesting plants and animals (including turtles and an owl!) I really enjoyed the gardens. Next, we went to the Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración (the Monument of the Heroes of the Restoration), which is dedicated to the restoration of independence in the Dominican Republic. We got to climb to the top and view the entire city of Santiago de los Caballeros, which was stunning from above. Finally, we drove back to where we are staying, ate dinner, and started training for tomorrow. I learned how to test people’s blood glucose levels, and the medical team (myself included) practiced informing the community about nutrition, sleep, stress, exercise, and substance abuse in Spanish. We also practiced setting up the stands for the medical education posters.

Our group and the congregation

Me at the botanical gardens

The view from the top of the monument

The medical team setting up the poster stands







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sunday, March 16

Image
     Today was our first day of work, so we got up extra early. Most of our group went to start construction on the church, but some of us, including me, set up a clinic for the community. Initially, we were going to have to set up our clinic outdoors, which would have been awful because of the heat and UV. However, one of the houses on the block was abandoned, and we got permission to set up in there. Our clinic was open, for free, to anyone who wanted/needed medical care. Our clinic had three sections: education, triage, and appointments. The education section comprised five booths, one for each system of the body and how to take care of it. In the triage section, we took each patient’s vitals, such as blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, blood glucose levels, heart rate, weight, and temperature. We also spoke to the patients (with the help of a translator) about what they needed to talk to the doctor about. Finally, the appointments section was where the patients got t...
Read more

Friday, March 21

Image
    T his morning, our group worked on construction. However, a few of us, including me, stayed back until lunch. At around 11 AM, we drove to the work site and joined the rest of the group. After lunch, we cleaned up the church for sabbath tomorrow. We washed the chairs, cleaned the trowels and mortar boards, took down the scaffolding and put it in the shed, swept the dust off the floor, and washed it. This process took two hours, but the church looked really polished when we finished. After we cleaned, we each wrote a note on a slip of paper and put it in a water bottle. Corbin, the group leader, gave me the honor of placing the bottle into a block and cementing it so that it would stay in the building we dedicated so much time and effort to. Next, we walked around the community to invite people to church and hand them medical information pamphlets. I was part of a group with five other people, including the pastor, who was very excited to share the new church with his ...
Read more

Wednesday, March 26

       Today, I shadowed two otolaryngologists (ear, nose, and throat specialists) in the clinic. All day, I observed appointments about various issues such as ear infections, earwax blockages, eustachian tube problems, sinus infections, deviated septums, congestion, tonsillitis, laryngitis, sleep apnea, thyroid nodules, Graves' Disease, tumors, facial deformities, and aplastic anemia. A lot of the appointments were to follow up after surgeries, so I got to see the aftermath of the surgeries I witnessed yesterday. The most interesting issue I saw today was aplastic anemia, which is a disorder that occurs when the bone marrow cannot produce enough blood cells. Aplastic anemia increases the patient's risk of getting cancer, so it requires biannual checkups. A common symptom of aplastic anemia and aplastic anemia medications is bleeding gums, so that was one of the things that the doctor checked for.       During lunch today, I sat in on a Zoom meeti...
Read more