Information Overload & Independence Day

I’ve been in Roatán for a little over a week. It’s been exhausting (mostly due to information overload) but it has been really good.

one room

Last week, I got a good taste of what the next three months will be like: in the mornings I’ll be in the public hospital in Coxen Hole at a pediatric clinic with Dra. Cerritos, a Honduran pediatrician. There, the core part of my day is spent doing triage before Dr. Cerritos sees patients. I weigh babies and kiddos, measure heights and head circumferences, take temperatures, hand out stickers and tickle tummies. After the doctor (or doctors – right now we have a doctor here doing a rotation with the clinic, which is super helpful; we can see twice as many patients every day!) sees patients, I enter the data from the visits into a database that keeps track of who we see, where they’re from, and the doctor’s diagnosis and recommendations.

this is where I weight & measure kiddos

the other room

waiting area

The hospital is so different than what I’m used to. It is unbelievably hot. People are everywhere. While doctors are seeing patients, other patients and nurses and doctors walk in and out of the room. It feels… chaotic. All of this, of course, is through the eyes of foreigner. Of course it feels different. But it does not feel unsafe. Doctors and nurses are caring for their patients, and caring for them very well, with the few resources they have. The hard part is that they have few resources.

Nursing Education

On Thursday and Friday, I sat in on a couple of classes that were given by three nurse educators who came down for Global Healing to look at how they might expand their outreach in the hospital. The classes were for nurses and covered care for diabetes patients, and care for low birth weight babies. One of the educators mentioned that she has seen nurses sit with a baby for an hour without leaving their side to monitor the baby’s health. A Honduran nurse spoke up, saying there is no way they would have to sit with one patient for an hour. Later, the question of hand washing came up – The hospital has few sinks with functioning water and I have yet to see a dispenser for antibacterial gel. The nurses recognize that they don’t always use the best hand washing techniques between every patient, sometimes they don’t make it to the sink, or there is no soap, or whatever. They fully understand the importance of washing their hands (they spend just as much time in nursing learning to wash their hands as we would in the USA—and any nursing student would tell you it’s the first thing you learn), but how can they wash their hands properly when they don’t have soap? Or antibacterial gel?

These are my initial observations. It is hard to see some of these things, and it’s important to see them. But equally (if not more) important is seeing that these professionals want to care for their patients in the best way possible, and they are trying to do so. As far as my role as a volunteer in all of this, I’m not sure what to think exactly, except that I am going to learn a lot. If anyone has any insight, I would love to hear it. All these things have been tumbling around my head all week. Luckily I’ve been able to chat about it with other volunteers, but I’d love to hear what friends and family back home think about this, or experiences they’ve had. 

So yes, it’s been exhausting. But I have been incredibly blessed to be living with an amazing, welcoming family who I have no doubt will take really good care of me while I’m here. They’ve showed me around the island, introduced me to their family, and have made me some amazing food (Doris’ baleadas are AMAZING!!). Sunday was Independence Day here, and this weekend was full of festivities, including several parades.

One week has already been eye opening… it’s going to be an interesting three months.