Today we had an early start. 6am devotions, breakfast then vans loaded by 7:30am, ready to start the day. Today was our first day of seeing patients. There were groups going in different directions, at the church clinic, the grade school, the hospital, the special needs school, feeding center and the local health clinic. It takes a lot to coordinate a large group like this, especially going in many different directions, so kudos to Milton our Honduran coordinator who puts this giant puzzle together for us every time. He hates to be called out, but I’m going to do it – Milton you are the best!!
There are a lot of moving parts on a mission like this and flexibility and patience is key!!
I was in the group with the church clinic and when we arrived, we already had patients waiting. Inside, we set about getting things ready and the rest of pharmacy set up etc. So many have been coming on this mission for such a long time now, that it seems like a well oiled machine. However, even well oiled machines have hiccups on occasion. We had a few snags getting going and opened the clinic a bit later than we had hoped. Our team this trip, has been working on implementing an electronic records system, using iPads that talk to each other. Each of the providers has one, and you can enter all the essential patient information including a picture of the patient. So at each step in the clinic the next person to see the patient has the most up to date information. More importantly, going forward we will have clear electronic records of patients we see. This is huge and super exciting. We had a few snags getting it started, that required a few emails/calls to a support person in the states, but we did get it up and running and the rest of the day it worked so well! Its super exciting and such a game changer in the clinic. I’m sure there will be the occasional hiccup along the way, but I think we are off to a great start with it.
At first, I was helping a bit in pharmacy with dividing of medications etc and then the rest t of the day I spent helping with the triage/intake part of the medical mission. I worked with the iPads and doing all of the data entry as patients came through. We got into a good groove and got through at least 130 patients. I expect tomorrow will be a lot more as we will get started earlier, and word travels fast so more people will show up. We did have to turn some people away at the end of the day but they will be back tomorrow.
The team members working on surgeries at the hospital, got held up and we found out they would not be done until about 9:30am this evening. It’s not unusual, but it’s a long day for them. I believe they did 5 surgeries today, a few included hysterectomies. I believe that the surgical team will have done 22 surgeries by the end of Thursday.
‘ After we closed up the clinic, we came back to the hotel and had dinner together. The hotel has been providing our food and it’s been great so far. We then got together as a group to talk about our day and to enjoy devotions together. There were lots of great stories shared from everyone’s day and conversations.
It was a great first day. It’s such a blessing to be here and to be a small part of something much bigger. This mission and the people we work with are so special and it’s so great to see this mission continue to grow and touch so many lives. But not only that, the people here in Honduras touch our lives in ways that can’t be explained. We talked tonight about they are always so giving and embracing. They have so little to give, yet they don’t hesitate to give it. I’m blessed and privileged to be here and to be part of it.
Tomorrow is another day, but it comes quickly. 6am start for us so its time to say goodnight! Until tomrorow.
Blessings.
Fun with stethoscopes at the special needs school
‘