Monday 2/6 - Day 1 of Clinic

Another brilliant sunset rousted us out of bed at 6 AM. As we loaded up into the bus, everyone admired the scorpion Andrea (interpreter in Ojos 1 y 2) had found hanging out in her suitcase. She had touched it twice on accident but luckily was not stung. He was a big guy so not as poisonous.

We pulled up to the church compound at the back entrance at 7:45 AM. People were just being let into to the large waiting area. We could see many more faces peeking through the fence as they stood waiting in line. After some brief set up of tubs with bleach solution to clean each used speculum and another tub of clean water for dipping the clean ones in, Deb and I began seeing patients (Deb is in the photo to the right). Ana, our Salvadorian nurse would tell me either “prueba de mamas” (breast exam) or “citologia” (pap smear) and any other details she thought we would need to know.

The morning flew by as we got into a somewhat bumpy rhythm with a lot of pap smears, breast exams, and a couple pregnancy tests - one of which was positive. It was interesting to see the almost stoic reaction of the young woman’s face. Had she guessed already based on the morning sickness? She took the news as if it was just a fact of life. She was still nursing her first child**. The local Salvadorian doctor arranged a referral for her to start prenatal care and Deb counseled her briefly. We were able to listen to the baby’s heart beat and give her the due date. (Photo to the Left shows Deb at her usual station at the GYN table)

Note about nursing: In El Salvador, it seemed like almost all women breastfeed their babies for 2 years. The only women we saw who said they didn’t breast feed were the young moms under 20 years old who were unable to.

We found out at 2 PM that the box of pap smear slides had to be turned in at 3:15PM every day so that Ana could take it to the local government health clinic (who would send it to the lab). So, at 2 PM, we had to do 8 pelvic exams in a little over an hour. We made it, barely, with Ana running out the door with the slide box. I found out that Deb likes AND is very good at working under pressure. Our last couple of hours were much more relaxing with breast exams and consults on a variety of women health issues. (Photo to the Left is of Ana helping watch a little one while we see the mom) The whole clinic saw about 310 patients with most patients going to at least 2 different areas. Pediatrics was swamped and did not finish until around 6:15PM. Mujeres finished seeing patients about 5:30PM. Thus, we finished our first day of clinic, and we climbed back on the bus to head back to the peaceful Ayagualo retreat house to carefully check our suitcases for scorpions. Silent, dry lightning flashed across the sky.