(Day 1) Spotlight: Med Clinic

The team woke up early, had some five-star steel cut oatmeal, loaded up the bus, and headed out to our work assignments.

The bus ride to the med clinic nearly took us two hours because of all the rain from the past couple of days. Some of the roads were difficult to get through, but we made it! Although space was tight in the church, we successfully set up the med clinic and pharmacy.

In the pharmacy filling prescriptions were first-timers Jack, Mike and Cora. Leading the pack were Brianna, a 2nd-year pharmacy veteran, and Jessica, who has headed the pharmacy for the past 4 years. We all had a fun day, despite the heat and chaos.

On blood pressure duty, we had two newbies Naieem and Irene.  If ever you wanted to see the look of pure concentration on a person's face, you needed only look at Naieem. Leading the charge was Threesa, who is a veteran nurse and second year traveler to the DR.

Liz was at the door at intake but she also got to work with the dentist. I guess you never know what you will end up doing! Her favorite patient was an elderly woman who had recently pulled her own tooth. She came to see the doctor because she claimed that the tooth was now "walking around in her mouth" and she needed medicine to make it stop. I hate when my teeth start walking around!!! We gave her some toothpaste and told her if she puts it on, the tooth will stop being so pesky.

Other highlights included:

• Sandy played traffic cop holding babies and directing patients.
• Samm and Kim gave out bug juice and played with the kids.
• Jenna and Christie were on shoes. Each of the patients were able to get a pair of shoes & a food kit that we packed the previous night.
• Sarah, Sabina and Christine were our Docs from UConn.  In addition, we were lucky to have the help of a couple docs from the DR.

Overall, we saw 96 patients ranging from infants to adults in the 70s. The doctors treated different illnesses like colds, high blood pressure, stomach aches and diabetes. Each patient received a three month supply of vitamins.  We handed out comfort dolls and stuffed animals to the children. Samm and Kim handed out bracelets to a group of eager kids. We all enjoyed our time and are excited for what's to come!