Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Yellow Fever and other details...

I am so glad I won't be contracting yellow fever and typhoid, but man I can hardly lift my arms today from the immunizations!   I got a bit of sympathy today from my students.  It will be all about details the next couples weeks, til I go.  Anyone who has a BP cuff of any kind they want to lend me would be great!  Also we are taking donations of small toys, school supplies, travel size toiletries, toothbrushes, or reading glasses if anyone feels like helping fill up my suitcase.

The team lead Dr. has been e-mailing me all kinds of information, so I'm getting super excited.  We will be doing a lot of general surgical cases, and also a lot of gyne stuff.  There are 3 general surgeons and 3 OB GYNs going, and a few medical students and 4 RNs and 4 LPNs.

So for you who like details, this is copied from my booklet:
The town we are going to... is one of the poorest counties in Bolivia. It has 25,000 people spread in the main town and other districts. The main activity is agriculture; they grow oranges, rice and cocoa. The land is mainly own by a few families and the rest of the people work for them. The county is also rich in sand and clay for the construction.

In this town (which we aren't supposed to mention on social media), there is one GP Physician per every 3,200 inhabitants. 3 Dentists for the whole population and 2 OB-GYN doctors attends all the calls of the county. There is also a General Surgeon and one Pediatrician. Ongoing prevention programs are not available and the number of preventable deceases is considerably growing. There is 1 Radiologist working half time. The MMI teams have been providing an answer to the backlog of surgical cases, and supplying the need for Dental services, Optometry and healthcare in general.

On this project and by the request of the Municipal Department of Health, we’ll continue to meet the needs for primary care in the surrounding communities, where the physicians get only once every month or less for some communities. Proving medicine to the patient is another way to assure the completion of the prescribed treatment and one of the strength of the project. The surgical component of the project will provide the patients with an opportunity to have access to a surgery in their own community and only contribute with $50.00 to $60.00 instead of $400.00 or more depending on the case; which makes the service impossible to buy for most of the people in the area.

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