Bea Martinez, RN, is is a pediatrics nurse at Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada. This was her third trip to Esquipulas with the CHW Foundation for International Health.
There's always something. Did I pack everything? Do I have room for that? Do I really need this? Where's my passport? Then, you get to the point where it's time to get to the airport so you don't miss the plane and at that stage you're just praying for a safe trip. I thought I'd have it together by now, this being my 3rd trip. But every trip is different. A new adventure on the horizon.
We originally thought we had an extra day to set up and prepare prior to going out for our first clinic day to Timuchan and Horcones. We were wrong, we had to set up right after we got to the Basilica. This is all after a 5 hour flight and a 5 hour bus ride to get to Esquipulas. The following day we set out for a 2 hour ride in the back of a Toyota truck. There were 5 of us along with our huge yellow bags full of supplies plus physical therapy equipment.
I saw the clinic ahead of us, Puesto de Salud. What a rush it was. There were people of all ages. Some were in line, some standing around, but all waiting for us. My thought was "this is why we are here...these people need us!"
Las year at our clinic Dr. Baudino saw a 27 day old who he'd suspected had sepsis. The baby was sent to the hospital after we'd administered antibiotics. A few days later, we were on a tour of the hospital and saw the baby with his mom. She said he was doing well and they would probably go home the next day. Later in the week they came back to our clinic so we could see how well the baby was doing.
This year mom brought the baby to see us. He looked wonderful! He was a happy health 13 month old with chubby cheeks. Mom was very thankful and couldn't stop hugging us. She said she saw us as a "blessing." She doesn't know that they were our blessings.
When we were told that we were packing up and leaving early all I could think was "oh my god we have so many mor people to give medical care to." How could we leave? Even as we were leaving with all our supplies there were people still thanking us for coming. Maybe we were just showing them that someone cares. I hope so. I am comforted knowing that we did see many people in need. And that we got referrals for most of the patients that needed them for continued care.
We leave families behind, our comforts of home, our securities to go to a third world country. To provide a city with much needed medical care. We work together, giving each other support and sharing our water and snacks. We are all there for the same purpose. We all come from different areas and backrounds but, we come together and work as a team. How much better can it get?
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