Catching up with the last few days

First off, internet here in La Merced is extremely spotty so this is the first time I've been able to get online since Monday.  We've been busy, though, so there's a lot to catch up on.  The highlights:

Tuesday - We worked with a local women's organization in a couple different communities.  Part of the visits were general health campaigns, with the pre-med volunteers taking vitals, Accuchecks, BMI, etc., followed by the three of us looking over the results and offering what basic health counseling we could.  The other part focused on domestic violence, which is a big problem in Peru.  This included a segment where me and one of the other volunteers acted out a domestic violence skit, which Mey took a video of and is now holding me hostage with (Just kidding Mey! But seriously delete that video).


Wednesday - Trauma service.  Wound care is a bit different here, though perhaps in predictable ways. All wounds get copious amounts of iodine and alcohol, regardless of perceived contamination.  The reasoning is that they consider all wounds to be contaminated, at least at this hospital.  Related: there is not a lot of hand-washing.  Interesting case of the day: tense, swollen, dusky tissue surrounding a snake bite on a child's ankle.  DDx: Local necrosis primary to the snake bite versus evolving compartment syndrome.


Thursday - We went to a small native community called Belen, where we are helping them build a small school building for their kids.   This is one of two communities where FIMRC will be implementing the Emergency Preparedness program they asked me to help develop, so I was very excited to meet everyone today. Anyway, our day today consisted of climbing an hour up a mountain into the jungle, chopping down 5 trees, dragging them back down, and putting up the frame of the building:




We'll be back to finish the building next week, and we'll likely do our first Emergency Preparedness session as well.  Tomorrow it's off to another native community (the other one my project is going to hopefully be deployed in), where we'll be doing hand-washing teaching among other things.

Also excited for this weekend, when we'll take a little time for ourselves to go hike a waterfall in the nearby jungle.

Hasta Luego,

Nick