Clinic Work

This is the crowd of people that were waiting for us when we opened the doors yesterday.
This picture is for Stephanie H. This is their x-ray machine. It's ancient, but at least they have one.
Today we did 6 endoscopies and a pediatric conscious sedation. I was pretty impressed that they did these procedures at the clinic.

Working at the clinic is actually broadening my scope of practice quite a bit. Sheree sees all of the cardiac patients that come in (lots of CHF), which is nice for me since this is my area. But she does a lot of obstetrics, endoscopies, and little bits of everything. Her patients are all ages, with all sorts of problems.

Catacamas

I just realized that I haven't really posted any pictures of the area. It is really hot, really humid, and pretty tropical, but not as much as Indonesia.

Catacamas is in a valley surrounded by tall mountains on both sides.
Sheree has a horse so we go to the stables after work. And for some reason, the horse has this funny habit of running around with his tongue out.

I have arrived

Sorry, this one is out of order. The next one is first.

I stayed Saturday night and Sunday morning in the capital of Tegucigalpa with a Honduran woman named Nidia. She spoke a little English, and I tried my best at a little Spanish, and we did alright. An instant friend. She goes to the church that Cristin served with during her time here. The church service on Sunday morning was an amazing send off. There were a surprising amount of people that spoke English in Teguc. I met a friend of Cristin's from K2 that is serving with the church for the next 2 months. It was a great morning. And after much anticipation and nerves I finally met Sheree after church and we headed out. I finally arrived at my final destination late Sunday afternoon: Catacamas, Honduras. It was very difficult for me to leave Tegucigalpa because of the amazing fellowship there with people that I had only known for less than 24 hours. (That's a very powerful testimony.) Aside from Sheree, who is totally fluent, I think that I am the only white (clueless) person for many miles. It has been difficult, and I think will continue to be for a little while. I keep reminding myself that I am here because I love God, and sometimes for love we don't always get to take the easy road.

My first day in the clinic

This one should be after the previous post. Sorry.

Today was my first day in the clinic. The staff start mornings off with devotions before they open the floodgates, and about 150 people come through the doors. I spent most of the morning pulling charts and doing EKGs (boy am I glad I work on 7East). They were very good to me at the clinic, and I think (hope and pray) that I am understanding more.

The clinic is several buildings setup in a courtyard fashion.
Yep, this is the Emergency Room. EKGs and IVs are considered emergencies here. They do have a defibrillator, but it has only been used twice (once on one of the staff).

These are all of the patient's charts, not the folders, but virtually each individual paper inside is another chart...
These are the exam rooms on one side of the courtyard. The patient's literally wait outside for hours.

Even though we are in the middle of nowhere, there is pretty good quality care here. This is a picture of our own pharmacy and laboratory. They have X-rays, ultrasounds, fetal monitoring, EKGs, and we are even doing an endoscopy on Wednesday.

Love you all,

Jen

Me at Chiflon

Being a mountain girl, I loved Chiflon, so I thought I would post two more pictures of the waterfall that we swam in.
I miss you all. I just arrived in Honduras a couple of hours ago. It is beautiful here and the people I have met already are very nice. Tomorrow I travel to the actual town that I will be staying in. I will keep you posted.

Pictures from Katie's

The view from Katie's house
The whole Jarillo Family: Elias, Katie, and Toby
They put up a zip line, and I just had to try it out...
And so did Katie.
This area is called Chiflon, it is in the Sierras (mountains)

Hola de Mexico

Hey to everyone!

I am in Mexico here with Katie for a few more days. We have had a great time. Yesterday we went to a waterfall in the mountains, we hiked around a bit and then swam in the river. Last night we did a bilingual biblestudy with Katie´s husband and her brother. We had a very interesting discussion, and it was very encouraging for me.

I leave on Saturday for Honduras. I am still a little nervous, but practicing my spanish on Elias and his family has really helped.

Later,
Jen