Day 4 in Quiche. Observation and Retroalimintation.

Dana Gersten, Laurie Davis, Lisa Arnold, Biance Fernandez, Carrie Schonwald and I had another very cool day here in Guatemala. Here are three of our perspectives.

Dana: I went to the Puesto de Salud en San Sabastian this morning with Gladys, Antonio and Miceala after a beautiful hour-long truck ride from Chicaman. They were wonderful and so were the patients we saw. However, I think am getting an intestinal "issue" and need to take care of that. Sorry! More tomorrow.

Laurie: Our clinic day finally arrived and I got to go to the ‘CAP’ or the main clinic for Chicaman.  The clinic paint was peeling, and the medical equipment reduced to the bare essentials.  Even washing hands between patients became a significant obstacle because the clinic’s one sink was located in the only clinic bathroom.  Oh, and of course there was no soap for this sink.  But despite all these physical obstacles the care provided was par excellence.  Each patient we saw, from the mother of nine children who presented with breastfeeding problems to the 15 year old pregnant patient with unknown dates were treated with empathy, professionalism, kindness and love.  I don’t think I have ever had a day with so many kisses and hugs from both the clinic staff and our classmates.  Tomorrow our grand adventure comes to a close and with tears in our eyes and Quetzals burning a hole in our pockets we will hit the road to Antiqua to check out the local hot spots and bring this grand adventure to an end.   

Lisa and Bob: We arrived this morning at the hospital in Uspantan to observe prenatal visits and births attended by 4 of our participants. We were to document if the elements of risk assessment and classification paradigm we introduced during the workshops were put into practice clinically and provide feedback to our colleagues. We were also taken on a tour of the facility by Dr. Cristobal! Pictured are some awesome posters that were on the hallway walls. Can't wake to make copies and post em around hood river! 

We gathered all together in the afternoon to provide feedback, or "Retroalimentacion" (which now is a word we say frequently in many different American accents in order to continue to chuckle) that was preceded by another dance session - this time Cumbia...which I don't really understand but is pretty hip-swinging.

We will be soon going to a dinner later tonight that Medical Teams International provided our two Providence Service teams. Tomorrow we will provide a faculty development session on small group teaching and providing feedback. Then it’s off to Antigua for some fun.

One more entry by the team to come. Thanks for reading and we know we could not be here without all of our colleagues, partners, family and friends caring for our practices, families and pets back home.

Hasta Luego.

Roberto Gobbo “El Loro”