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Ok, almost 3 months after returning from a trip to Bri Bri, I am finally getting this blog-post done. Apparently, I have adapted well to “Tico Time”.
At 4am on a Wednesday morning in late February, 13 sleepy medical students and a volunteer psychologist from Japan boarded a short bus with me, Dr. Christian, Dayan (our health education coordinator), Tatiana (our psychologist) and Dr. Rae Schnuth (a Med School Dean at Michigan State). We were off to Valle de Talamanca to host 2 mobile clinics for the indigenous Bri Bri tribes there.
After an 8-hour drive with stops for breakfast in Siquirres and snacks in Limon, we arrived at the Rio Sixaola. (We were almost at the border to Panama, we could see Panama just down the river). We loaded all of our meds, equipment and ourselves into 2 motorized canoes to cross the river. After crossing, we loaded everything onto an old schoolbus (circa 1970) for the bumpy, hilly and curvy 45 minute ride to the Bri Bri tribal headquarters. It was really hot but we were all instructed to wear jeans and heavy shoes in case we met up with snakes (yikes) and large bugs en route
to the clinic and during the clinic.
Once we arrived, we were greeted by the tribal medicine doctor in a traditional conical hut. He explained the traditional healing methods of the Bri Bri and some of the beliefs and traditions of the indigenous tribe. He spoke in Bri Bri which was interpreted into Spanish by his son. We were welcomed by the group and set up our clinic in an open air group meeting space (with a dirt floor, JAHCO approved!). We held a successful clinic there seeing about 75 patients for various illnesses and providing health education about dental care to the patients while they were waiting to be seen. Luckily, most of the kids spoke Spanish and Bri Bri and could help us out by interpreting things into Spanish for us. Much of what we did was confirm that the patients indeed needed to make an 8 hour trek by bus to be seen in Limon for some of the ailments. Most people here are actually covered by insurance, but their location is so remote that they often do not seek routine medical care outside of their village.
After the clinic, we repeated the process in
reverse. Hilly, hot, curvy, bumpy bus ride on a school bus that was even older than the first! At one point, the bus made some crazy noises and the driver opened a port on the floor, fiddled with a few things and then continued driving. The bus continued making very loud engine type noises, but we made it to the river despite the bus’ complaining. After loading and unloading our meds and equipment into the bus, we went on to the nature education center that was hosting us for the night. En route, we stopped to pick up some liquid refreshment and found that no store in the vicinity had a liquor license. We were directed around the corner to a hardware store that sold us warm beer and guaro (sugar cane liquor) under the table. Having secured beverages, we were off to our home for the night.
We stayed in a dormitory and ate home cooked food in an open air restaurant associated with the education center. After a shower, everyone cleaned up pretty well for a great dinner and a 2 hour game of charades.
The next morning after breakfast, we set up a second mobile
clinic in the library of the education center. This place actually had 4 walls a roof and a floor to work with (although a 3” cockroach joined us during the clinic - picture not included, it didn't do the bug justice). We set up stations for vitals, health education, visits and a pharmacy. It was one room, so the HIPPA rules were forgone for the clinic. Not a lot of patient privacy. The clinic was a great success, with about 40 patients seen during a 2 hour clinic.
After a quick snack, we all climbed back onto the short bus for the return trip. We drove to Limon where we stopped for some famous ceviche and then went on to the Black Star Line Restaurant for some rice and beans Carribbean style. We all wanted to have a bottle of their sauce to bring home. Then it was back to San Jose and Santa Ana where we said good-bye to the students that we had gotten to know over their 6 week rotation with us.
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ixaya chaska
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muchas gracias!
wow! aloha, mahalo for sharing your pictures... i LOVE latin america, speak spanish and thanks to you got to go on a little visit there for a moment. thankyou for caring! blessings...