Slow weeks on Strike

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The strikes continue with no end in sight. There have been rumors this week that the strikes were going to end by today but it was only falso hope. The doctors and nurses are marching to lima tomorrow and will be gone for all of next week and independence day weekend. Emergencies will still be open so we will still go to work. My clinic has been very slow and the lab has been closed for the past few days. There is one clinic that is stil working so we are finding things to do. The nurses of Los licenciados are running campaigns in the hills for the highlanders. All of the interns tag along and help with histories, paperwork and vaccinations. Anything to stay busy. (I´m sitting in an internet cafe next door to our house and the teachers are marching by at the moment. It´s very loud, there are probably a few hundred of them. We have become accustomed to the chants and banners every where) Anyway, tuesday was spent running a campaign at the boys orphanage. Last week in one of the campaigns in the hills I made friends with the lab technician for los licenciados, Karina. I spent more time helping and talking to her on tuesday so she invited me and Pooja and Andrew back to the lab with her after the campaign. There wasn´t much to do except hemaglobin and glucose tests so she decided she would run tests on us instead.

We gave Andrew an HIV test and figured out my blood type. When they prick your finger here they don´t use a little needle, its more like a metal razor blade. She had no trouble getting enough blood. I´m O positive, good to know.

Wednesday afternoon Leslie, Pooja, Katie and I went back to Licenciados to see a birth and work on posters for the campaigns. The woman came into the clinic in the morning having contractions, they sent her home until the afternoon. When we got there she was 3 centimeters dialated. 4 hours later she was 5 centimeters. We ended up staying at the clinic until 3 in the morning but she stayed at 5 centimeters all night. We left with out having seen the birth but I learned a lot about contractions and the whole process. There will be no children for me for quite some time. The woman did end having the baby at the clinic, they thought she would need to be induced, but not until 8 in the morning. Although it was an uneventful night it was fun to talk to the obstatrition and we got a lot of work done on our projects. Hand washing posters and some sex ed stuff. It amazing how the people here never wash their hands or use soap.

Today at my clinic we walked in at the end of a birth, right as the umbilcal cord was cut. That might be the closest I get to seeing one. They seem to be quite the comadity around here, all the interns go to work in the morning with hopes of seeing one and come back for lunch dissapointed. We saw another woman today with gall stones and a few people needed stitches. I hope the strike ends next week but the chances are slim.

These pictures are from last week, the Es Salud Health campaign with the doctors from lima and some from the los licenciados hill campaigns. More to come later.

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