More Belize

Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote..I don't have access to a computer at the clinic, so it's impossible to update this and write much text. I've just borrowed someone's laptop quickly to write this. Hopefully I can get better internet access when we go away this weekend, and I might be able to upload some pictures..

Anyway, I have settled in well at the clinic - time seems to be going very fast! There are 6 of us here - Stacey and Jason are doctors from the USA, and Andrea is a doctor from Canada, then there are me and Danya from Birmingham, and Jamie who is a Pharmacist from the USA. They are a good bunch, although it is difficult to stop our conversations from revolving around medicine!

The clinic and accommodation are nice buildings - very clean and comfortable. The clinic is open on Wednesdays and Fridays. It has 3 consulting areas and a surprisingly well stocked pharmacy. James and Hannah are both nurses, and they live on site with their two (very cute) children called Aidan and Lily and take care of all the admin, overseeing prescriptions, home visits etc. There are also lots of staff most of who live locally, to take care of grounds, driving, clerking in patients etc.

We have found a local bar just down the road called 'Weylan's' - a good spot for an evening beer - they only play country music which is pretty funny! The clinic have provided us with bikes to ride around on - only one of them has handbrakes though...but I did brave it for a short ride, and only nearly rode into a ditch once...

We cook for ourselves every night, and have had mixed results - lots of rice and beans, and some very very spicy habenero peppers!

The weather has been good, although just slightly too hot - we've had a bit of rain but mostly sunshine. There aren't too many mosquitoes around the clinic area, so I've been managing to avoid getting bitten!

On Monday we had our induction, and went into town to the local market to buy some supplies (the only place for miles around where there is phone signal...).

Tuesday morning we went to San Antonio, a nearby village where they have just built a giant clinic with lots of modern facilities. It's a bit surreal, as most of it is empty because they don't have enough people to staff it.

Wednesday was the first Hillside day, and I spent the morning dispensing drugs in the pharmacy, and the afternoon seeing some patients which was a bit scary, although James supports all of us students, and helps us with prescriptions etc - I think it can only get easier as the month goes on! We had a great lunch of curry cooked by one of the local ladies. We went on a tour of Punta Gorda hospital - it is very basic - A&E has one bed and no supplies, there are 2 wards with very ricketty beds, and the operating theatre is only used once a year for 2 weeks, when a team of surgeons come in from the USA. We ate out in Punta Gorda Wednesday evening - very good local fish.

Today we went back to the clinic in San Antonio, and went to a local school to give talks about Swine flu (very topical...although there havn't actually been any cases in Belize yet, and I'm a bit worried that the person giving the talk scared some of the children quite a lot...). I sat in on some consultations with a Cuban doctor (most of the medical staff come from here) - he was awful - unintelligable English, and didn't actually ask any of the patients what was wrong with them, instead just writing them a prescription...very different to at home! In the afternoon we went to another clinic where the doctor can see up to 60 patients in a day! It's Andrea's birthday today, so we have just baked her a cake, and will be eating it shortly!

Tomorrow we have Hillside Clinic in the morning, and then we are off up the coast to Placencia for a trip to the beach! We have booked a snorkelling trip out to the reef as well, and are all pretty excited. We will return to the clinic on Sunday.

So it's been a good week - very interesting, and very different to home - I think I'll have plenty to write about in my essay when I return. I've been impressed with the people - everyone is very friendly and helpful. All the clinics have been spotless and well looked after, and in general they have had more medical supplies than I expected to see. It's kind of surreal to see resources being invested in brand new huge clinic buildings when what they really need is more staff though. Definitely a learning experience.

As I said before hopefully I can get a few photos up on the weekend, and sorry that I'm not going to be updating this too often. Hope everyone is okay, and I will write more soon.

xxx

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Part of trip: Elective

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