UTMB Clinical Rotation: Week 1 Update

Almost the entire working crew of ACEBAR and the UTMB Clinical Rotation. A small but potent force for good health in Chichicastenango

Well, as is usually the case with trips to Guatemala, my blogging has not kept up with our experiences on this trip.  There’s really been a lot to talk about, but we’ve been very busy, and by the time I reach my room each evening it’s 9 o’clock, and I’m tired.  So when faced with the choice of writing till even later at night, or shoving it off and trying to get something approximating a reasonable night’s sleep, I’ve generally chosen the latter.

But tonight a brief commentary seems doable (with an emphasis on ‘brief.’)

Chelsea connects with a hard-working 70+ year old campesino. Our team of five had to descend into and climb out of a jungle-covered gorge to get to this very welcoming family. Not a big one, as Guatemalan gorges go, but still enough to make me and Sandy wheeze and puff.

So … here we are for a second night at the very lovely little Hotel Utz Jay (Or “Good House Hotel, in the local Kaqchikel Maya language) in Panajachel, on the edge of one of the most beautiful places in the world, Lake Atitlan.  We had scheduled an exciting but but energetic trip around the lake for today. But some minor problems with turista persuaded us to instead take a day of rest here in this very touristy but generally amusing little town.  So we slept in, shopped, and the four old folks (me, Sandy, Patricia, and Mike) had dinner at “Tubi”, a “Vietnamese Guatemalan Fusion” restaurant (I just got an email from one of the students that they dined on caldo de pollo – chicken soup).

Taylor counsels a family during a very busy Thursday, on which she and Sandy saw 40 patients

Anyway, a brief recap of the first week: On three days one or both of our two students, Taylor and Chelsea, conducted what were supposed to be pediatric clinics at the ACEBAR office, but which in reality turned out to be something closer to a family practice clinic, as a lot of parents of students requested a consultation for one or another malady.   Along with a bunch of pediatric wellness exams, we did a lot of hearing tests – 17 of which I conducted on Thursday morning.

I administer a hearing test to longtime friend Evelina, who brought her three children in to be examined. Her hearing was fine – but we find that a lot of young people have some significant hearing loss. There’s not a lot we can do about it, of course. But we do counsel students to sit where they can best hear the teachers.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Dr. Patricia and one student at a time did women’s exams.  These clinics were typically very busy, and although the good
folks at ACEBAR have not yet had time to write up the nice report they always send along, I’m quite sure that the number of women seen was well over a hundred.  I know that on Thursday alone, they did 49 full exams that included several cryogenic treatments to burn off precancerous cervical lesions.

And finally, working with Nurse Practitioner Sandy “Maya” Huebner, each student did a full day of home visits to rural homes in the villages that surround Chichicastenango.  I had the extremely good fortune to participate in one of these days,

during which we formally visited 10 patients in five houses, and another couple of patients less formally in another house – and wound up at the end of the day at the home of herbalist healer Sebastiana (Po’xita), and her rather famous spiritual guide and healer mother, Doña Tomasa Suy.

Sandy and Chelsea talk to an old Maya lady at her home. Sandy, who has made herself an expert practitioner with natural medicines, emphasized their use – in part because they seem to be effective, and in part because it’s something that even the poorest patients, like this old lady, can usually afford to continue using them and thus remain proactively involved in their own heath care.

I actually have a lot to say about this day in the campo making home visits with Chelsea and Sandy, inasmuch as from an anthropological point of view it could hardly get any better than this.  So as my available allotment of time and energy permit, I will be making another post dedicated to my own personal thoughts and observations related to these visits.  Truly a remarkable experience for me, as I played something like social worker, talking to other family members about who lived in the household, what income the family has, other medical resources available to the family (or, generally speaking, not available), medical history, other family problems, etc.

Chelsea and Taylor showing the appreciation gifts they received from the crew at ACEBAR at our going away celebration.

As more of the details about all the clinics – patient counts and follow-up information – become available within just a few days, I will make posts about all of these highly successful and interesting and very productive clinics.

But for now – after a very busy week, suffice it to say that we had a by and large restful weekend, and some relatively routine (at least in retrospect) stomach problems yesterday evening and this morning seem to have been quickly resolved.   Tomorrow, we’re on the way to Quetzaltenango.  And early Monday morning we’re off to work in San Juan Olintepeque.

Stay tuned …