It’s harder, than I thought it was going to be, to blog. At first I couldn’t think of anything to say and I was sure I was doomed to do this. But then I realized, that I couldn’t find the words to say, because there was nothing to say yet. Until these last few days, I was still acclimating. I was still in visit mode and had not fully immersed myself into my trip.

But now I’d like to talk about my work, which is the main reason I’ve come to stay here for three months…

I work in Salaverry, which is a very poor fisherman’s town outside of Trujillo. The clinic I work it is very small and simple, and for the most part, pretty slow. In Peru, the medical system is completely different from that of the states. Because of a lack of funding and resources, patients are usually required to purchase their own vaccinations, needles, suturing kits and what not, and bring them to the doctor’s or nurse’s to administer. The doctors of Peru are currently on strike with the government, asking for more funding for the clinics and hospitals so that they can provide better care for the patients. This strike has been going on for a few months (I’m not positive when it started) and a lot of clinics that my friends are working at have had no doctors in them and thus make it difficult for the nurses and volunteers to help patients. But this strike is necessary as they need the government to relinquish more funding to the health care system.

Peru gets a significantly less percentage of national tax money for healthcare than most other countries.

I work Primarily with Liseth, a nursing intern who supervises and teaches me and the other volunteer, Haley. Liseth is such a sweet girl, we usually spend the first few minutes of every day conversing and talking about the night or weekend before. She has been great in teaching us how to give shots, what questions we must ask, why certain things happen the way they do in clinics of Peru, etc.

The majority of patients we get here are mothers with small children, and I spend most of my days observing the nurses as they go through the routine checkups for infants and toddlers and administer shots. Theres not much I can do medically because as the children are so small, giving shots and what not is more risky as they move and fuss about, so only the licensed nurses can do it. Sometime I will play with the children to distract them or keep them preoccupied as the mom talks with the nurse, but I’ve grown aware of the fact that small children are not my strong point 😦 Haley, however, is great with children and she definitely keeps their attention at bay while the nurses do their routine check ups.

I also work in the Topico room, which is where they (and I) give shots to adults or adolescents as well as bandage minor wounds and clean sutures. These are tasks that I get to help in, since the patients are older and calmer.

The thing I have done most since I have worked here is going door to door with Liseth and Haley and offer free vaccines to the community. Over the last two or three weeks we have done well over a hundred vaccines; offering Hepatitis B, Tetanus and Influenza for those over 60 years of age. Its been a great learning experience and through the interactions with the townspeople I’ve learned a lot about them.

Many of the houses don’t have finished walls or roofs there. Lighting is almost always dim, and the furniture is covered with sheets to keep the dirt from penetrating the cushions. The people are a mixed array. Many don’t like or trust doctors, and they refuse the shots, even though they are free. Others are very welcoming and invite us in as we give the shots. Almost everyone is scared of the needles, which is a pretty normal thing. Generally the people we give shots to also ask Haley and I where we are from, how long we are staying, etc. I’m pretty sure we are the first blonde hair, blue eyed, whiteys many of them have seen up close and personal.

This town is actually the district that my AMAPeru program has chosen to do its clinical campaign in for the end of this session. Its happening next weekend and we will be working with the community to give out hundreds of vaccines in one day, to the people that live outside they town, in small tents and huts. These people generally do not go to the doctors and its incredibly hard to reach them by going door to door as there are thousands of them that live in the outer borders of the district and our primary mode of transportation is our feet. I will definitely be posting updates about this campaign so make sure you check in! 🙂