Brazil blog #2: The team arose after the second day on their beautiful boat, Amor e Esperanca (Love and Hope in Portuguese). Life on the river is beginning to settle in with the team. As the sun pierced through the three decks on this 100 foot long boat in the early morning, the colorful cozy hammocks strung form the rafters began to come into focus. After a beautiful breakfast, the team continued on their journey to another village. After travelling on rapidos they reached the large town, devastated from a recent flood that wiped out so many families, they were desperate for care. The team and the patients greeted the day with enthusiasm from the curious little onlookers peering in on the setup to the mothers flocked by children waiting patiently for their turn; there was a constant stream of patients. The team was able to treat 130 patients today. Skin infections are common among the people of the amazon and this village was no exception; there were a lot of wounds, staph infections, abscesses, eczema, and cases of impetigo that needed tending to and our team had the perfect solution with numerous supplies and medicines ready on hand to help care for their numerous skin ailments. Many children had otitis media. Not only were the ear infections serious but also many had ears impacted with buildup that the team was able to treat. This can cause serious problems like tinnitus and ear pain if not taken care of. Thankfully our team was equipped with the right tools to help. Many children had chicken pox and other infections. One particular patient came in with a large chunk of wood in his palm from a fall last week. RN Mabel treated the patient with great care. Calvin, one of our medical students, worked up a patient with otitis media and gave great counseling while caring for her. The hot sun causes great eye damage in the amazon, and Katie fitted almost 100 pairs of reading and sunglasses. Steph ably assisted Dr. Wendy in the busy chiropractic and stretching clinic while Jameson, Daniel and Nicole manned pharmacy. One of the unique aspects of an IMR trip is the ability to go out to the homes for house calls of the patients and understand how they live. The team gets to intimately know and understand the lifestyles of the patients and can better provide health education, which is the sustainability part of our clinic. Late in the afternoon, we were asked to go on a house call and there saw an older man with probable urosepsis. We quickly were able to share with his family to get him to the hospital by speedboat. Our translators are top notch! Late last night we had an urgent care visit when a villager brought his wife out to our boat after she had suffered from an allergic reaction. We were able to quickly go to work to give her medication and then kept her with us for a few hours of observation, sending her home around midnight. So incredibly thankful that IMR was able to come to the rescue - she came to clinic today to say thank you and get a check-up. NP Megan and Dr. Bob were her primary caregivers. The team went on an alligator hunt late in the night – find out their stories when they get back! The conversation and laughter continued as the IMR team is now becoming a family and developing camaraderie and friendships together. The team had the opportunity to gaze at the stars on the top deck before the boat slowly rocked them to sleep on in the amazon – a great end to a great day.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 13:05:24 +0000
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