Day 1

June 4, 2012

Clinic Day 1

Hola!

Though we didn’t see patients today, we did go to the ‘Centro de Salud- Pisac’ for greetings and an orientation.  We received a welcome from the mayor, a detailed talk from a physician about the Pisac health network, and a talk from our good friend Dr. Morales about the cultural beliefs of the local people, as well as a tour of the clinic.  Oh, and I can’t forgot the 11 am champagne toast in honor of our arrival and upcoming work (it was only a little bit of champagne, I promise) and the four women who came from Coya to show us their appreciation.  The Pisac Health Network is doing a lot for the health its people, but is grateful for our support and collaboration, as we will help them fill some of the gaps over the next 4 weeks by visiting hard to reach populations and providing specialized care and education.

Welcome from the mayor and Dr. Morales

Coya women

Around 2 o’clock for some and 3 o’clock for others, our tours of the clinic were over and we had the chance to visit the market in Pisac or “el mercado”.  Four of us decided to visit the Incan Ruins in Pisac, which ended up being a 3 hour, peaceful, beautiful hike through the mountainous attraction.  I will definitely be sore tomorrow.  As I write this, everyone is busy preparing for our first day seeing patients tomorrow- the pharmacy, supplies, and eye glasses are being packed, and coordination of all the moving pieces is taking place, as members clarify their roles with the leaders, practice their educational skits that they’ll do for the children, figure out exactly how we are going to accomplish everything that we hope to in that community in only one day’s work (Everyone received their position in tomorrow’s clinic at dinner, but who’s going to hand out the toothbrushes?  “Don’t worry,” says Sharon, a nurse practitioner on the trip, “we’ll make it work”), and many other things.  Seven AM breakfast will be followed by a bus ride, followed by a morning clinic, a 1 PM lunch (or more likely lunch taken in shifts), afternoon clinic, a return ride, a 7 PM dinner, didactics (a presentation by a physician), repacking medications and supplies, data entry, and further fine tuning of our operations for the following day.  Everyone’s tired, but smiling, as we are excited to be here and meet our first patients tomorrow.

At the Pisac ruins - Tim, Erica, Julia, and Dave

El Mercado de Pisac

Julia Muntean, soon to be 2^nd year medical student at Case Western Reserve University