la dulzera de su carácter

"Nunca perder la dulzera de su carácter"

Never lose the sweetness of your character.

I have made a point to closely shadow the nurses who I have been working with for the last three months. I have watched procedures with them (and helped with some!), watched them interact with patients of all ages, chatted with them about all sorts of things, and asked them for advice as a future nurse.

One of my first days working with nurses, three months ago, one of them told me the quote above: Never lose the sweetness of your character. She told me that some days are so frustrating and that sometimes people can be completely rude and ungrateful, but that is shouldn't keep you from offering a smile and kind words

This Saturday, after over three months of living and working in Roatán, I am heading back to the States. I feel more ready than every to go to nursing school, and I'm excited to say that I'll be starting my classes for my nursing degree at Regis University in May.  There have been some very hard, frustrating days. But this advice from my friend will always stick with me. I have also had so many good experiences and learned so much. I am so grateful for all of the amazing people who helped me get here and who I have met during my time here. It's been a great 14 weeks!

a good friend and an amazing nurse: Katy Wilson, RN

Hi my name is Katy and I have had the awesome experience to work alongside Amanda in Clinica Esperanza. I am a newly graduated nurse that is volunteering in Roatan for 6 months before I join the “real world.” I have loved getting to spend time here getting to know and work alongside the people of Roatan! I have learned so much from the people and the culture and want to share a little bit about what I have learned.

Currently, I have been in Roatan for 3 months and have had many chances to get to know several of the locals. One of the first things you notice quickly while on the island is the difference in time. In the United States, I was used to rushing from one task to another and if anyone is over 10 minutes late it is considered rude. Here people are not as strict with time. It leads to a more relaxed atmosphere and easier to take more advantages to talk with people or take time to help people. You get your task done in whatever time it takes then move on to the next thing. At times this can be frustrating because I am used to the idea in the States that work comes first and socializing is only if you have enough time. Other times it can be quite refreshing to not have to feel that I have to hurry and finish all my tasks as quick as possible and rush off to the next thing. It has worked wonders for anxiety!

Time can also be seen differently when looking at the clinics in the United States in comparison to the clinics in Roatan. In the United States, people are given an appointment and tend to get very frustrated when they have to wait for 30 minutes beyond their appointment time. In Roatan, Clinica Esperanza does not regularly give appointments but instead the patients arrive early in the morning to get in the front of the line. Some of these patients that need to be seen by the pediatrician and the family practice doctor easily wait 1 hour or more to be seen by the doctor. For the most part, the patients do not complain about having to wait so long to be seen. Instead they are grateful to be given the opportunity to have good and affordable healthcare, and culturally it is not rude to make someone wait or not have an appointment.

Being from the United States, it also amazes me how happy the Hondurans are with so little materialistic goods. I got to visit with a family up in the colonias that was living in a small 2 bedroom “house.” The insulation was simply cardboard boxes shoved behind chicken wire and the “rooms” were sheets thrown over a rope. Another couple of guys I talked to were telling me that they didn’t have any money, yet they were not worried or stressed about what would happen. The people in Roatan learn how to live off the land a lot of the time. Coconuts are everywhere that you can drink the coconut water out of or eat the meat. Fish are plentiful in the ocean and many fruits and vegetables that can be found on the island.

What it all comes down to is that Hondurans view life with a present focused view. It is common to hear islanders say, “We don’t know if we will even be here tomorrow so why worry about it?” They are thankful for each day they live and do not dwell on what the future will hold. In the United States, people tend to focus more on the future. We have to have a good job and lots of money so that we can have a secure future. We worry about what job we will have in the future, and we schedule things out for months. Is one way better than the other? Who am I to judge? I believe there are pros and cons to both and people from both cultures can learn something from the other. Maybe in the United States we should learn to be more thankful for each day we live. Maybe we should enjoy the here and now more rather than always focusing on the future. At the same time, maybe Hondurans should consider the future more when going to school to get a good job. Or maybe make plans to ensure that basic living standards can be provided all the time not just when times are good. Again, who am I to judge?

I hope this post has helped to show you a little bit about life in Roatan! Thank you Amanda for letting me post this and share my insight. I hope this was informative and interesting. If you would like to follow my blog while I am in Roatan, Honduras you can find it at the link below.

http://kwilson2012.wordpress.com/

On my way to Roatán!!!

Hello from Houston, Texas! I’m finally on my way to Roatán. I left Denver at 6 this morning -- yikes! Thanks, Mom and Dad for waking up to take me!! And I really did need their help… I am bringing with me over $2000 worth of donated medical and school supplies!!!!!!!!!! About half of these donations are from friends and family in the Denver area, and the other half is a donated Project C.U.R.E. kit.

This is what 100 pounds of donations looks like!

making sure it was under the weight limit—is there a better way to do this?

and here it all is changing flights at Houston (The two giant green-grey duffle bags. Photos taken from my seat in the airplane.)

So now I’m in Houston and (thank you, coffee) I am able to think about the last couple months and the months ahead. I have already learned so much just by preparing for this experience, and first and foremost, I have learned about the incredible generosity of people, so allow me a moment to give a shout-out to the Castle Rock High Noon Rotary Club, First Presbyterian Church in Boulder, the Castle Pines Rotary Club, Project C.U.R.E. and countless friends and family. I could not be in this airport today without the support (financial and otherwise) of my community.

A lot of people have asked me what I am most excited about. Aside from, um.. EVERYTHING, I am really excited to start to learn about some of the nitty-gritty of healthcare. In the reading and research I’ve done this summer, especially focused on international health outreach (which included some books and lots of reading news articles and blogs about international development, e-mailing or sending twitter messages (seriously) to people who write those articles and blogs) I really feel like I have only barely begun to attempt to scratch the surface of learning what healthcare outreach looks like. This is a little overwhelming (and very humbling). But now, the opportunity is in front of me to see what a couple of these organizations actually look like in action – and I get to be a part of that action! THAT is the thing I am most looking forward to. This opportunity to work in Roatán is a chance to get my foot in the door in the kind of work I see myself doing for a long time.

But, you know, I’m only in Houston now J I’ll be updating from Roatán soon!

Clínica Esperanza

In the last post, I wrote about Global Healing and the Roatán Volunteer Pediatric Clinic, where I’ll be interning most of the day during my time in Roatán. After RVPC closes in the afternoon, however, I’ll be volunteering at Clínica Esperanza.

When I was in Roatán in May, I went by Clínica Esperanza (“Hope Clinic”) on a whim to see if I could just check it out. My mom, my friend Elyssa, and I walked shyly into the reception area (me first, mom and Elyssa no hablan mucho español…), but once we were inside we found there was no reason to be shy. The receptionist greeted us warmly and found Karla, the sweetest, kindest, friendliest nurse I’ve ever met. She spoke mostly in Spanish, but tried to speak some English to help my mom and Elyssa understand (mom was very thankful). Nurse Karla gave us a tour of the facility and told us a little bit about how it started. Peggy Stranges, an American nurse who had previously volunteered in Roatán, permanently relocated to the island in 2001. Nurse Karla told us that when Nurse Peggy arrived on the island, locals learned she was a nurse and came to her for medical advice, and thus the idea for the clinic was born. It began in the basement of her home, and then was moved to a church, then eventually moved into it’s own freestanding facility. And folks, this facility is really quite lovely.

Clínica Esperanza’s services include a walk-in medical clinic, women's health center, pediatrics inpatient hospital, birthing center (brand new!), and adult and pediatrics dental clinics with support from a laboratory and pharmacy. They also have outreach clinics and community health education programs. All of these services are low-cost/no-cost to their patients. It's about $5 for a visit, but Nurse Karla told us that no one is ever turned away because they cannot pay. Sometimes they just pay a portion if they can. Sometimes they pay nothing and say they will pay later when they have the money, which sometimes happens and sometimes does not. The clinic runs on donations and has a permanent staff (like Nurse Karla, who is from Roatán) and volunteer doctors, nurses, and students who come and go. This is a great, brief video about Clínica Esperanza and Nurse Peggy:

I feel very fortunate to be able to see two different kinds of healthcare outreach during my time in Roatán. The clinics seem so different (the public hospital where RVPC is located is a concrete slab of a building the bustling “downtown” area, Clínica Esperanza is air conditioned…). I am less certain about what I will be doing with Clínica Esperanza, but I’m really interested in learning more about the outreach programs they offer; public health and health education sounds right up my alley. I also hope that I can lend my language skills to any volunteers who don’t speak Spanish.

Like RVPC, Clínica Esperanza is always looking for medical and financial donations, so if you’re interested in learning more about how you can support the clinic, contact me or check out ClinicaEsperanza.org.

Oh yeah… two weeks from tomorrow I’ll be on a plane!!

Global Healing, RVPC, & HEAL

This whole business with Roatán, Honduras came to be because earlier this summer, I was accepted as the HEAL intern for the Roatán Volunteer Pediatric Clinic. The clinic is run by Global Healing, which is an organization that goes into developing parts of the world to establish programs to promote health care reform where modern medical care is often not available. What is key about Global Healing is that they aim to create sustainable programs. It’s not just about short-term interventions, but it’s about creating long-lasting relationships with the communities they work in to become self-sufficient programs. Global Healing has programs in Georgia, Armenia, Dominica, Moldova, Nepal, Haiti, Ukraine, and (ta-da!) Honduras.

Global Healing came to Honduras in 2003, opening the Roatán Volunteer Pediatric Clinic. The clinic is based out of the Public Hospital, of which there is one on the island of a population of around 65,000. With the government only able to support one permanent pediatrician, the hospital could not meet the demands of the pediatric outpatients, and often patients were turned away. So Global Healing stepped in to relieve this demand. The clinic is staffed by volunteer physicians from the US, and there are year-round rotations for pediatric resident physicians as well as a Health Education and Advocacy Liaison interns (HEAL - that’s me!). The RVPC provides perinatal care, newborn care, and inpatient pediatrics.

The HEAL intern serves as the Clinic Coordinator, locating resources (i.e. meds, specialty referrals, etc.) for patients, helping them through the logistics of utilizing these resources (i.e. locating funding for trips to the mainland for follow-up care). Interns assist in setting up the clinic before patients arrive, triage as patients and their families come into the clinic, collecting patient data, and interpreting for Global Healing physicians.

I will also have the opportunity to work with long-term patients individually, coordinating care among many health care providers and locating resources where there may not seem to be many – this is the aspect of the internship that most excites me. I am excited to get to know patients and families better to be part of creating a care plan that is best for them, and I’m hoping to get to know the community and the culture well so that I can learn how to personalize care for every person.

In an effort to help the clinic, I am now trying to gather donations of all sorts to take with me. Below is the list of things that the clinic always needs. I’ll be collecting in the Denver/Boulder/Colorado Springs area until I leave – please contact me or leave a message below if you’re interested in donating

25 days and counting…!

Non-prescription Medications & Supplies Infant and children's acetaminophen Infant and children's liquid cold medication (e.g., pseudoephedrine) Ibuprofen (liquid or infant drops) Benadryl (liquid preferred) Hydrocortisone ointment or cream Topical antibiotic ointment Selsun Blue shampoo Anti histamine ointment or cream (anti-itch cream) Eucerin or other moisturizing creams A&D, Desitin, or other diaper creams Vaseline petroleum jelly Cetaphil lotion Oral calcium supplements Children’s vitamins Debrox ear drops Clotrimazole (Lotrimin) ointment Saline bullets Individual alcohol rubs 3cc & 5cc syringes Nizoral shampoo Nix (lice treatment) Silver Nitrate applicators Urinalysis dip-sticks Glucometer / glucometer strips Thermometers (no mercury) Ear thermometer w/covers Infant nasal suction bulbs Pulmo-Aide or other nebulizers General Donations Infant formula Preemie, infant, and baby pampers Combs Shampoo, Conditioner, & soaps Toothbrushes & toothpaste Sandals, shoes, flip flops Clothes Socks

Children’s stickers Small Toys and Stuffed Animals Writing Utensils Spanish & English kids’ books Notebooks Child backpacks Crayons and coloring books Hand Towels Kleenex, Paper Towels Nail Clippers Sports Equipment: Soccer Balls Pumps for balls Flashlights (ones that do not need batteries) Clinic Supplies Antibacterial hand gels Paper towels 409 disinfectant sprays Plastic Ziploc bags     (little ones most needed) Print cartridges (HP cartridges 21 and 22 for HP Deskjet D1460 printer) Printer paper Prescription Medications Ceftriaxone for injection Any oral antibiotics (liquid preferred) Amoxicillin Augmentin Azithromycin Clarithromycin Erythromycin Cefazolin Other cephalosporins Penicillin Dicloxacillin Ciprofloxacin Metronidazole Topical Bacitracin Topical Neosporin Nystatin ointment Cortisporin otic suspension Erythromycin ophthalmic ointment Albuterol/salbutamol liquid for nebulization Albuterol etered dose inhalers (MDIs) Permethrinor Lindane (for scabies) Topical Sterids Oral steroids Prednisolone Prednisone Dexamethasone Dexamethasone for injection Inhaled steroid MDIs MDI spacers

Honduras and Roatán

This is Honduras and the island of Roatán, just north of the mainland:

Honduras’ history is, well, tumultuous.  The country, with it’s numerous military coups (the most recent being in 2009), has had a history of fairly consistent political instability, corruption, and power struggle. The country is known for its gang activity (but hopefully steps are moving in the right direction) and for the brief but violent 1969 Guerra de Fútbol (the “Soccer War”: rooted in immigration and economic issues between Honduras and El Salvador, the first acts of violence of the war occurred between fans at a World Cup qualifying match between the two teams).

True, Honduras is known as a violent country. But that is not the only thing for which it’s known. The Maya civilization thrived in the western part of the country, and there are ruins to visit in Copán.  There are many tropical national parks to explore. The country’s economy is largely dependent on its export of bananas and coffee, and, in more recent years, on tourism.

And tourism, of course, is how many know of the island of Roatán.

The Bay Islands, which include Roatán, Utila, and Guanaja, are considered culturally worlds apart from the mainland with a mixed heritage of African, Carib, and European.  In the 1700s, the islands were a hotspot for English, Dutch, and French pirates. The islands were under the control of Great Britain until 1859, when they were ceded to Honduras. English is still largely spoken on the islands, but because of the recent increase in tourism, many people from mainland Honduras have come to the islands in search of work speaking Spanish, which is becoming more and more prominent.

I had the opportunity to visit Roatán this May with my family and friends. It is beautiful. It certainly has that laid-back “island” feel.  The island runs on tourism, and it shows. There were large, gated hotels and resorts all along road leading to the east end of the island and countless billboards and signs advertising ziplines, restaurants, and diving (Roatán is world-renown for it’s diving. The Mesoamerican Reef is the second-largest barrier reef in the world). 

Alongside these hotels and billboards, however, sits dilapidated homes and shops. Police officers randomly pull people over for no reason but to demand payment in order to pass (the folks who own the houses we stayed at paid the police a monthly “fee” so that they would not stop the cars that carried those who rented from them … aka, us). I don’t know if I am wise enough or smart enough to make any kind of conclusion or judgment about these kinds of situations, but I see them. In any case, I’m sure this will be something I will continue to think about after I spend more time there.

In the meantime, here are some more photographs to get an idea about what I can expect… countdown: 38 days!