LAS LOMAS, GUATEMALA — Las Lomas is a village high in the Sierra Madres of southern Guatemala.
The homes are made of cinderblock with sheet metal roofs.
To get to Las Lomas we took a treacherous mountain road, much of it dirt, and the members of the medical missionary team I am traveling with spotted cows and people sharing the same water sources. An old school bus from Omaha, Neb., rested beside the road.
When our bus loaded with medical supplies arrived after the three-hour journey from Chichicastenango, the waiting villagers got their first look at Americans. Once the clinic was set up, many received the first medical care they had ever had.
A small building behind a church was provided for the clinic. Two of the rooms, where the dentists and triage nurses worked, had electricity. The physician worked in a room with a single lightbulb.
The patients were, as group leader and retired dentist Bill Brewer said, the "have-nots” of the world. Women in ornate dresses smiled at us, showing chipped teeth. Children hid behind wooden posts, peeking out only to giggle at the flash of a digital camera.
We handed out numbers to try to organize the chaos. I worked in the pharmacy, helping a nurse fill prescriptions and trying to explain the dosage in Spanish. The Guatemalans smiled and thanked me as I butchered Spanish to tell them to take the ibuprofen three times a day, or to take the sleep medication once, just before bed.
I found out later that the patients went to our translators and asked for the instructions in Ki’che. Rosetta Stone doesn’t offer a course in Mayan.
Most of the patients suffered from the same ailments: headaches, foot pain and intestinal problems. These are societal problems.
"You saw all the people walking with poor shoes, with stuff on their back and head, and poor nutrition,” said Dr. Matt Crespo, my father and a team physician.
Dr. Brewer spent the day hunched over, pulling teeth. There was little more he could do for their mouth pain, but his patients were appreciative.
The volunteers from Texas and Oklahoma treated about 60 patients Monday, including many children. Everyone who saw the doctor left with at least a pack of vitamins.
The church asked for money to help cover the costs of operating the lights, but those who couldn’t pay were treated anyway. We left expecting larger crowds on Tuesday as news of the area’s first medical clinic spreads.
"Bring them on,” my father said with a smile as we jostled along the rough road on the way back to our hotel.
from the oklahoman
The homes are made of cinderblock with sheet metal roofs.
To get to Las Lomas we took a treacherous mountain road, much of it dirt, and the members of the medical missionary team I am traveling with spotted cows and people sharing the same water sources. An old school bus from Omaha, Neb., rested beside the road.
When our bus loaded with medical supplies arrived after the three-hour journey from Chichicastenango, the waiting villagers got their first look at Americans. Once the clinic was set up, many received the first medical care they had ever had.
A small building behind a church was provided for the clinic. Two of the rooms, where the dentists and triage nurses worked, had electricity. The physician worked in a room with a single lightbulb.
The patients were, as group leader and retired dentist Bill Brewer said, the "have-nots” of the world. Women in ornate dresses smiled at us, showing chipped teeth. Children hid behind wooden posts, peeking out only to giggle at the flash of a digital camera.
We handed out numbers to try to organize the chaos. I worked in the pharmacy, helping a nurse fill prescriptions and trying to explain the dosage in Spanish. The Guatemalans smiled and thanked me as I butchered Spanish to tell them to take the ibuprofen three times a day, or to take the sleep medication once, just before bed.
I found out later that the patients went to our translators and asked for the instructions in Ki’che. Rosetta Stone doesn’t offer a course in Mayan.
Most of the patients suffered from the same ailments: headaches, foot pain and intestinal problems. These are societal problems.
"You saw all the people walking with poor shoes, with stuff on their back and head, and poor nutrition,” said Dr. Matt Crespo, my father and a team physician.
Dr. Brewer spent the day hunched over, pulling teeth. There was little more he could do for their mouth pain, but his patients were appreciative.
The volunteers from Texas and Oklahoma treated about 60 patients Monday, including many children. Everyone who saw the doctor left with at least a pack of vitamins.
The church asked for money to help cover the costs of operating the lights, but those who couldn’t pay were treated anyway. We left expecting larger crowds on Tuesday as news of the area’s first medical clinic spreads.
"Bring them on,” my father said with a smile as we jostled along the rough road on the way back to our hotel.
from the oklahoman
No comments:
Post a Comment