¡Hola de Peru¡ - First Day of Clinic

Today was the first day of the clinic and man was it a great one! We had some difficulty all arriving in Peru. We were planning on starting the day with two providers, the podiatrist, physical therapist, and chiropractor. But the other two providers arrived in the knick of time to start clinic. It was a busy day, we estimated we saw over 140 patients.

People will enter through registration where they will discuss their chief complaint and get some background. Then they will go upstairs to see the nursing triage where vitals will be taken, then they will see their respective doctor whether pediatric, generalist, podiatry, chiropractic, or physical therapist. Then they will see the boys at the station for medicine for the parasites as well as receiving flip flops to avoid walking bare foot. Finally they will come to me, the pharmacist, who will distribute the medications that they need.

I have recently graduated physician assistant school and have a fairly good grasp on the medications and am able to remember what medications to tell people to take food with, or avoid alcohol, etc. I am working with my brother, Jon, who is an excellent helper. He complains that he can’t remember any Spanish but does fairly well!

I was on the 2016 mission trip and was in love with the people here and being able to help. It’s no different this time. Though I am tired and my feet hurt, I love seeing the smiles on their faces and knowing that they are coming to us after having no where to turn to. Our group is much bigger this time, 23 people and has been such a great group to work with. Everyone is pitching in wherever they can and is collaborating well. Our first day was a success! More to come later in the week. Buenos noches mis amigos.

Written by Olivia W.