Second Clinic

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Just a quick check in from my first day at another clinic today.

Melissa and I got to work at the Maternity and Emergency clinic today. Over all, it´s a lot more fast paced than the other clinic. We worked with 2 of the doctors in the emergency room and one of the nurses. My first impression is that the clinic is so crowded. Everyone who comes into the clinic has to check in and then they are sorted to different areas. They have a general medicine doctor, a GYN, a labor and delivery area and the emergency room.

I would describe the public health system here in levels. The first level is the other clinic we were in Friday and yesterday, your basic general medicine. The second tier is like the clinic we were in today: more trauma based and they have the ability to do minor procedures (like an urgent care clinic in the States). The third tier is the hospital, which is about a 30 min drive from Duran.

The clinic from today was cleaner and they had more sanitary protocols in place. They wiped the tables and changed the cover after a bloody patient. They used alcohol to wash their hands often. They were reusing a thermometer, but they put it under the armpit and not in the mouth.

Now for specifics: we saw a man who was riding a bicycle and was run into by a car. He has a huge gash in his leg that I helped stitch (I cut the thread lol). I learned how to, and placed my very first intermuscular injection. I assisted the doctor in taking the dead skin off of a burn patient.

The burn patient was the hardest for me to deal with. He was about one year old and he was burned on his back because of a boiling pot of water that fell on him. He and the mom were both crying and you could tell he was in a lot of pain. I helped clean the wounds and Melissa held him still. I kept telling myself that I wasn´t allowed to cry until I left the room but I was able to hold it together...somehow.

Besides for that sad story, I´m impressing myself with how things aren´t bothering me. I watched a toenail be pulled off of a foot yesterday and I was fine. I think the worst part is seeing and hearing people in pain, not the blood and gore. Hopefully I can contine having a strong stomach and getting used to all of it.

Tomorrow we´re back in the level one clinic, the family med one and Thursday we´ll be back at the emergency room. Happy Indepencence Day Everyone!

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Comments

[Cathy]

Helllooooo from Beverly
Hi Dana...Im glad to hear your doing well. AJ told us about that little boy yesterday. How heart wrenching. I had tears in my eyes just thinking about him and what YOU had to go through. Honestly I dont think I could ever do something that like. You are such a strong person Dana...and you should be so proud of yourself. I know your parents are and I admire your strength, compassion and your will~! Be safe Dana...really..especially when you are off scouting the area and sight-seeing! We miss you!!!

[Kyle Lambert]

Happy Independence Day
Hey Dana, Glad to hear everything is working out well. Sounds like you are getting a lot of good experience and learning how to cope with different things. You definitely can't be getting emotional while working on these people. They depend on you and expect you to stay strong for them. Glad you have been successful so far. You missed a fun July 4th. Tom and I took off the entire week and spent it in Cape May with Sarah. Tom's co-worker came for a couple days. He is from Oklahoma and that was the first time he saw the ocean so it was kind of cool. My friends Greg and John came down again and we made Gummy Life Saver shots this time instead of Skittles. We didnt actually have shots though. The Life Savers soaked up the vodka and we sat around and ate the candy. So we got drunk and hyper lol. It was weird though, Carneys was incredibly dead and Cabanas was popping. Not the usual July 4. The fireworks were solid though. And I want to change a comment I made in a previous blog. I no longer want you to bring me a shot glass. You need to bring me one of those water balls! Get the biggest one you can find, I will get in there somehow and dammit I will be riding waves left and right in my water ball. I think I am going to make a new X games event or something. Make it happen! Keep on truckin! Love you, talk to you soon.