Last FULL Day of Clinic

Friday June 18

Our last full day of clinic was yesterday. By the end of clinic yesterday, the heat and the work was really taking its toll. My body ached, My feet were tingling, my eyes were dried out, and I had incessant phlegm in the back of my throat from the dust. Through each day, the rest of the world just melts away and time goes by quickly. Then, at the end of the day, when all the activity slows down, that's when the pangs of homesickness settle in. You lay in bed listening to the loudspeaker from the nearby soccer field, thinking of home, and think you'll never fall asleep, but then you close your eyes and the next thing you know, the rooster is crowing and the motos are moving and it's time to wake up.

The shower in the hostel heats up to just above lukewarm, but after I dress into my scrubs, I feel l might break out into a sweat just standing still. Then when I walk outside, it feels cool in the morning. The plaster walls must insulate the hostel rooms so they stay warm all the time.

We ended up seeing 119 patients yesterday so that totals 364 so far. We are working this afternoon and have 70 scheduled and we will work tomorrow morning and will see another 30. So that makes a total of 464. There will be patients we will have to turn away.

Miranda and Deb are building water purification systems made from two, five-gallon buckets and large carbon filters that are a larger version of the filter in my Berkey water bottle. The two five-gallon buckets are placed on top of each other and holes are drilled through the bottom of the top one then through the top of the bottom one. The Berkey filters are placed in the top bucket and their threaded stem are placed through the holes and into the lower bucket. Unfiltered water is pored into the top bucket which flows by gravity into the lower bucket and becomes filtered. There is a spigot in the lower bucket to pour water from. The water in the lower bucket can be ingested without fear of getting sick. Amazing. Miranda, Emily, and Deb are assembling 50 of these water systems. Each set of these Berkey filters costs $100 plus the cost of the buckets and shipping them down here. St. Paul purchased the materials for 43 of these filtration systems. Miranda held a fund raiser which raised enough money to purchase the other seven.

This purification system is amazing. It has fairly low maintenance, having to use a green, 3M scrubby to open the pores of the Berkey filters every several weeks. The buckets need to be sprayed with a bleach solution when one sees a build-up of algae. The Berkey filters themselves should last an average of 5-8 years or the ability to purify 6,000 gallons of water. It's all dependent upon usage.

Deb did a lot of research to figure out the best filtration system for the Peruvian community members. originally, the popular sand filtration system seemed like a good idea at first. The sand filtration system was popular in Guatemala a couple of years ago. The theory of this filtration system is that the sand is used as a barrier between the unfiltered and the filtered water. On top of the sand is a layer of bacteria. The water sits on top of the bacteria which consume the harmful microbes in the unfiltered water until the water seeps through the sand and into the container below leaving filtered water that can be consumed. The sisters in Guatemala tried this filtration method, however transporting all that sand was back breaking!  And the maintenance of having to scrape the top layer of bacteria as it gets too thick to be effective would be very cumbersome for the families. And it's time consuming. All in all not an efficient personal water filtration system. I think in Guatemala they were setting up the sand filters in large basins to be used by the entire villages but then if the water accidentally became contaminated then the entire village that filled their water buckets at that basin would become ill.

Again, these Berkey water systems are amazing. Miranda, Deb, and Emily spent the better half of two days putting them together - drilling the holes for the water buckets, assembling the system, priming each filter and running one purification cycle with red food coloring to test for leakage or a defective filter. There were some problems with several buckets and Miranda had to replace the defective bucket with a new bucket. We are recommending that each family run two cycles to eliminate pathogens from the carbon filter.

Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) installed one of these systems in the kitchen of the sisters from which all team members have been using this trip. The school has one system, and 23 systems are working in the community since last May.

Miranda, Charlie, and Deb will be giving training to the vetted recipients of these 50 water filtration systems on Monday. Once these 50 filtration systems are a success and all the kinks have been worked out on how to educate recipients and the best methods of sys maintenance, then more filtration systems will hopefully this project can continue and more systems can be donated to neighboring settlements where parasite and bacterial infections run rampant.

Drilling Holes in Buckets

Assembling Buckets

I wish I could show you how wonderful these filtration systems are and how blessed the people of Paita are that St. Paul cares so much to donate them. I wish you could see how dry it is here, how so many people are bloated as a sign of dehydration, and how parasite infections are so common. Then you could truly appreciate the gift you have given these people. I don't think I will ever take our clean, fresh water in the US granted again.

Saturday began  at 8 am with a Father's Day celebration at the Santa Clara school. The school children put on an amazing show with dancing and instrumentals. It was very entertaining and I loved to see the beautiful costumes and the bright shining faces of the students. Sister Monica gave the opening speech along with another administrator. Throughout the show, all the dads in the audience got involved. Dads were pulled into the act, including Dr. Roberto!  And later, students pulled Lindsey, Olivia, Elena, Miranda, and Emily into their dance routine!

 

Video of

Dancing With the Stars

It was wonderful fun. As the end of the show grew near, the aroma of the steaks grilling nearby announced that lunch would soon be ready. It smelled delicious. They use a lot of spices here.

The show ended and an explosion of selfies and photos took place. Individual and groups of students and their parents wanted to get pictures of us as much as we wanted to get pictures of them. There was so much smiling and laughing. This photo session lasted for close to an hour. Parents of the students lined up to receive their take-home steak and potato and vegetable lunch while we finished taking our photos with these wonderful children. I loved the pictures of the teenagers with our young missionaries.

As much as I loved the show, I was anxious to get back to the clinic. I wondered if everyone else felt the same way. We assembled into the dining room for lunch and were served the same wonderful grilled steak that the families were served. My mind started to get groggy and I could easily have taken a nap. The popular Inca Cola went down very smoothly.

Olivia, Lisa, and Lindsey

After lunch we resumed our clinic. Our supplies continued to dwindle. I kept a list of meds and supplies that we ran out of early. I also kept a wish list; like nose auctions, orthopedic supports, strollers, wheelchairs, lice medication, hydrogen peroxide, ear suction kits, and Prilosec or Nexium.

I haven't seen Olivia or Lindsey all afternoon. They are busy at intake and triage. I'm amazed how quickly they acclimated to the clinic. Olivia is a real pro now having been on a medical mission trip two years ago and having been a CNA for two years now. Lindsey underwent baptism by fire this mission. She began the trip after just completing her CNA course and inciting  she didn't know much Spanish  to communicating to patients in Spanish while taking blood pressures, ordering and administering urinalysis, taking vitals and histories, and triaging. Incredible experience for all of us.

 I'll be honest, I am dragging a little this afternoon. Where I felt I was the energizer bunny two days ago, I know felt like the slower half of the tortoise and the hare. I wonder how everyone else is faring...

Submitted by Lisa W.