3.
It’s Thursday, day 3 of the clinic. Today, the village of Castillo is in matasano to see the docs, the dentist and hear the home health care talk that Sandy gives (she does the whole thing in Spanish and it’s great. Bart…well…think Vanna White. He displays the stuff while Sandy does the talking). I was with them this morning for the first home health care kit demo and there were at least 100 people there, listening intently, asking questions and gratefully accepting the kits. Whole families came up afterward, to say thank you and shake everyone’s hand. What a difference some ibuprofen, soap and a little explanation can make in someone’s life.
Wednesday was clinic day two. A doc (dave), a nurse practitioner (susan), two nurses (kara and sue) plus a soon to be vet (allison), doing intake, exams and treatment plans (including medicines wherever possible). Dr. Phil in the dental clinic handling as many patients as he can in a day. Runners got what the docs need. One of us was a security guard to make sure random people don’t wander into the clinic during exams.
And then there are those of us who assisted in the dental clinic. Once you get past the first bloody mouth, it’s all downhill. And a lot of kids and adults got the ultimate root canal…including Ellis. This fella came in with a toothache in…wait for it…. A wisdom tooth. Forget general anesthesia. Forget in and out in 20 minutes. Forget taking 2 and calling me in the morning. When you have to do it the old fashioned way, it’s a long, difficult process. Ellis and Phil never flinched. It was amazing to watch.
15 or so patients in the dental clinic, more than 60 in the med clinic and the day was wrapped. Back home to CEPANA. Dinner and a great discussion of the day’s events, sharing the stories while the docs and nurses did a small clinic on the patio for the CEPANA crew.
Two stories from the day will stick with me because they say much about the commitment that members of these communities have to each other. A lady/mother brought a little girl into the dental clinic. The whole time she was reminding the girl to open her mouth and do what the doctor asks. The girl responded as you might expect, with respectful compliance. But it wasn’t her mom. It was the neighbor. The neighbor brought her in, made sure she received the treatment she needed. Then, having waited hours for the neighbor girl’s treatment, she went back outside and waited another hour or so for her own daughter to be seen.
At the same time, at the medical clinic, a woman who had waited all day (literally all day) to be seen, gave her appointment number to the family of an epileptic boy that arrived late in the day. She gave up her spot for the last slot of the day, making way for a more serious, and much, much younger patient.
It’s refreshing to see members of these communities taking care of each other. It’s refreshing to sense an uncommon level of trust and responsibility.
Our discussion topic during our group meeting was wisdom and we discussed ways in which our “Nicaraguan friends are wise.” Perhaps one way is not only in understanding but in demonstrating that we are all responsible for one another.
“Mission is to go to a no-place, to serve God’s no-bodies, and in the eyes of the world, to accomplish no-thing. Yet, in doing this, we realize we are at the heart of what time, meaning and history are all about.” –Father John J. Walsh, MM from “What They Taught Us.”
Good night and God bless.
e.j.
