This is a reminder for me to write about the amazing people that are involved with Shoulder to Shoulder. I don't think I realized before I came here the type of organization that S2S is. It blows my mind to hear the stories of those that come through here. Take Ed Zuroweste for one. He has been involved with S2S for several years and he brings med students from Hopkins down frequently. The man isn't real- for lack of a better description, he is inspiring. He is genuine, humble, and exudes positive energy. Not to mention he has done incredible things with his life. Today on the way to Banaderos for a paquete basico, he tells Ashley and me about his times with his good buddy, Paul Farmer- about the dinners and debates he, Paul, and Jeff heck have had. Also about his work with the WHO and his own Migrant Clinicians Network. If you had told me this time last year, as I was sitting in class reading Paul Farmer and further delving into my interest in combining anthropology and medicine, that I was going to be here now meeting such people, I would have laughed and said that would be wonderful, but not exactly realistic.
It's funny- I knew for so long and never doubted that I would leave the US after graduation, and I knew I was going to make it happen somehow, but when I found a way to get to Honduras, I didn't think too deeply about it, I was just ready to go. Lately I've just been focusing on my work and not really thinking too deeply about things- a great way to go about things I've decided. And while I am still in a non-reflective mood lately, I can't help but think about what I'm seeing and doing here. It then follows to question and wonder what I'll be doing after this, what everyone will be doing after our brief lives here.
Just a few things bouncing around in my head now...
Friday, November 5, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Life's a beach and I'm just playing in the sand
Long time, no post. I attribute that mostly to the fact that I’ve been so absorbed in my work down here. I have been incredibly busy the past few weeks- lots of work with pharmacy, and lots of data entry and clean up with the study. I’m getting less children for the study this month- which I think I’ve mentioned before indicates the seasonality of respiratory infections. I now have days go by when either no kids qualify at all, or the ones that do tell me no, so I go without a patient for the day. This past Saturday Ben took the one hundred samples I’ve collected back to the states to be run through the CDC lab- I’m really excited to see the results.
While on the topic of last Saturday, we closed the clinic for the day- Ashley and Janell arranged to have a huge clinic cleaning day. It was pretty cool to witness- the lab crew came, Kelvin got his scholarship students to come (unasked), and we all got to work. Everyone was in gloves scrubbing walls, floors, sewing screens, fixing toilets, the whole nine yards. So cool to see everyone work so hard to get the clinic in its finest condition- I couldn’t help but smile witnessing it.
So the biggest news, or update really, is my work with pharmacy. It has been a whirlwind of medicines, med orders, and shelf constructing. The new trial is to now have a two month supply of meds in the bodega. Consequently, about two weeks ago roughly 150+ boxes were dropped off in the library. The process of unloading, counting, and shelving the meds was a big one. Worked very long days, but naturally, I was excited to do all of it- I told Alex I am his ayudante now. In order to have the enormous amount of meds fit in the bodega, we (and by we I mean Alex) made new shelves. I’m pretty proud of the acetaminofen shelf I made as well as the board I cut for the sueros. It’s the little things…
I went to Conce that weekend as well to work with Alan on database study queries and do the same med stocking there, but there were far less meds so it went a lot easier.
Sunday after the cleaning Doris, Alex, and I worked on the med orders for the 7 clinics here around Santa Lucía. While I enjoy doing them, it’s a little more difficult when there are several people doing it- making sure everything is checked off, in the box, etc. Monday the final two were finished and another bin was packed up for our newest visitor, Ed- a long time Shoulder to Shoulder pro. Alex left Tuesday morning, so I had to ensure that the orders made it on trucks and other bins went to Conce and San Pedro- after many phone calls and plan changes, everything went smoothly :)
A final note- it’s interesting to think about who keeps things going down here. We are all in our twenties, and we are the ones running the show. I use we loosely- I’m still just training for pharmacy director and I’m not sure where that will go, but for now I’m just enjoying the ride. But Janell, Alan, Alex, and Ben do so much to keep things functioning- not an easy task by any means. Really, it’s incredible.I’ll end the post there. Again, more descriptive than reflective, but that’s how I’ve been feeling lately- I don’t think as much or worry about things and it’s been great.
I’ll be home in a little over a month and I’m getting more and more excited to see everyone!
While on the topic of last Saturday, we closed the clinic for the day- Ashley and Janell arranged to have a huge clinic cleaning day. It was pretty cool to witness- the lab crew came, Kelvin got his scholarship students to come (unasked), and we all got to work. Everyone was in gloves scrubbing walls, floors, sewing screens, fixing toilets, the whole nine yards. So cool to see everyone work so hard to get the clinic in its finest condition- I couldn’t help but smile witnessing it.
So the biggest news, or update really, is my work with pharmacy. It has been a whirlwind of medicines, med orders, and shelf constructing. The new trial is to now have a two month supply of meds in the bodega. Consequently, about two weeks ago roughly 150+ boxes were dropped off in the library. The process of unloading, counting, and shelving the meds was a big one. Worked very long days, but naturally, I was excited to do all of it- I told Alex I am his ayudante now. In order to have the enormous amount of meds fit in the bodega, we (and by we I mean Alex) made new shelves. I’m pretty proud of the acetaminofen shelf I made as well as the board I cut for the sueros. It’s the little things…
I went to Conce that weekend as well to work with Alan on database study queries and do the same med stocking there, but there were far less meds so it went a lot easier.
Sunday after the cleaning Doris, Alex, and I worked on the med orders for the 7 clinics here around Santa Lucía. While I enjoy doing them, it’s a little more difficult when there are several people doing it- making sure everything is checked off, in the box, etc. Monday the final two were finished and another bin was packed up for our newest visitor, Ed- a long time Shoulder to Shoulder pro. Alex left Tuesday morning, so I had to ensure that the orders made it on trucks and other bins went to Conce and San Pedro- after many phone calls and plan changes, everything went smoothly :)
A final note- it’s interesting to think about who keeps things going down here. We are all in our twenties, and we are the ones running the show. I use we loosely- I’m still just training for pharmacy director and I’m not sure where that will go, but for now I’m just enjoying the ride. But Janell, Alan, Alex, and Ben do so much to keep things functioning- not an easy task by any means. Really, it’s incredible.I’ll end the post there. Again, more descriptive than reflective, but that’s how I’ve been feeling lately- I don’t think as much or worry about things and it’s been great.
I’ll be home in a little over a month and I’m getting more and more excited to see everyone!
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