Weekend Travels

 

So far Mike and I have worked Tuesdays through Saturdays, and have Sunday and Mondays off to take a short little trip. Saturdays here, is a busy day in the clinic because it is also the Market Day in Zumbahua, so many people come into town from neighboring areas, and figure they might as well come to the clinic while they are at it.

Women in traditional clothing hiking into Zumbahua from the neighboring areas. 

 

Here's a picture of Zumbahua on Market Day.

 

Visiting the town of Chugchilan. On a hike to the top of a mountain overlooking the town.

 

Visiting Banos

 

Mike eating freshly chopped sugar cane. You just chomp on it, and suck the sugar juice right out.

 

The sugar cane being squeezed to extract the juice.

 

Final product! Fresh sugar cane juice with a touch of lime. Amazingly delicious... also likely how I woke up with a stomach ache the next day (maybe not in the most sanitary container)

On a hike to a beautiful waterfall: Pailon del Diablo.

 

 

 

 

On our drive home, looking back at volcan Tungurawa, where we had just been in the foothills.

Welcome to Zumbahua, Ecuador!

 

My adventure takes place in the central highlands of Ecuador, at 11,400 feet altitude. I'm volunteering at  Hospital Claudio Benati (HCB - the large beige building in the foreground), located in a village called Zumbahau.  HCB is an Italian funded, non-profit, that has been serving this community for over 20 years. They provide both clinic and hospital services, at very little cost to the patients. We serve a primarily indiginous population, who identify as Indigenas or Quichua.

Now that I've been here a little over two weeks, I'm beginning to settle into a bit of a routine. Here's a typical day... I start to wake up around 5:30am to the sound of the birds chirping outside my window, and usually proceed to put a pillow over my head, and go back to sleep until my alarm rings around 6:30. I live in one of three small homes located just behind the hospital, that houses both Ecuadorian staff, and foreign volunteers alike. By  7:15 I report to the hospital after a basic traditional breakfast of coffee and bread. Below is a photo of the house I live in.

(View out the back of the hospital of the three residential buildings on site) 

We start the morning off with "rounds" where all the healthcare providers and nurses listen to a morning report on how each patient did overnight, and then proceed to move from bed to bed and check on each patient. There are usually about 20-30 patients in the hospital, divided between six different wards. One is post-partum, one for women, one for men, one for pediatrics, and a couple extra for overflow. No private rooms here, most wards have 6 beds in one common room. Overnight, one nurse alone is in charge of all of the patients. I help assess the newborn babies and the pediatric patients, and write notes to update their plan of care for the day.

About an hour later, we wrap up, and I make my way to my consult room, where my pediatric patients start lining up outside the door. Most patients arrive in the morning, and we attend them until 1pm, when we break for lunch for an hour, then return to do a few more hours of clinic from 2-4pm. I see about 4-12 patients each morning, so a nice pace to get started here. Every other day, we do rounds in the hospital again in the evening.

 

I call them in one by one, and they sit across from me at my little school desk, and I take the best medical histories that my Spanish can muster, to learn about their complaints and illnesses. Then I examine each one on the exam table. You will note that there is no sink in this room, so I rely heavily on my giant bottle of hand sanitizer that I am quickly exhausting.

(My diagnostic kit set - thank you parents for the graduation present! - has come in very handy. I have exactly 4 ear speculums, no disposables here, that I wash in between each patient.

Ecuador as a country is working hard to advance their health care system, and they have a fairly extensive network of Centros de Salud (Health centers) throughout the country that provides healthcare for free to the public. While the primary care realm is doing fairly well, the country is lacking in services of secondary and tertiary health care. I have seen several children with significant developmental delays, and no services to refer them to. Even more frustrating are the lack of specialist physicians available to the public. I have seen several children with serious eye conditions needing to seen an ophthalmologist urgently, and another small child who was rapidly losing weight, and needing to see a gastroenterologist. Unfortunately the only specialists nearby (being several hours away)are private, and our families cannot afford the cost of the care, and so they just decide to live with the illness or defect, sometimes until they get sick enough to finally be seen emergently.

The last two weeks have flown by, and I am learning so much each day. At times it is very stressful, with still having somewhat of a language barrier, seeing things I have never seen before, working with very few resources, or just learning how to be an independent pediatric provider. But I am so happy to be here!