Ecuador-Dia Dos

Day 2 in Ecuador, but Day 1 for work!~ We had to be up with breakfast, bags packed and in the hotel lobby by 0645. Cherine and I were pretty good about getting up and out within 10 minutes. Yeah us! Monday was a special day for this group as the clinic they help build was being dedicated. All the teams boarded their buses and headed to the clinic. It was about a 15 minute bus ride. All three medical teams were here and there was about a 45 minute ceremony. The Cary Church of God funded and actually built this building. Originally it had 2 rooms when you walked in, now it has been expanded and has more than doubled. It now houses a pharmacy, Directors office, bathrooms and several evaluation rooms, including a dental room. WOW!

All of the houses and businesses that we passed, including the hotel, are all boarded up with metal bars or full metal garage doors. There was a huge white steel gate by the sidewalk and bars on the windows and doors. But I looked up and on both side cinderblock walls at the top, were broken glass bottles placed all along the tops of both walls. I was told that this was to keep people from attempting to break into the clinic. Despite wind, rain, etc. the bottles and glass stayed. Wow! Kind of crazy.

The man who got me into this! Dr. Pauli. He told me as we headed home later in the week, he couldn't believe how calm I was when he asked me to go, "sure, why not" I said. I wouldn't have changed it. I really like being here and am totally sure I'll be back next year. I am so looking forward to this.

Brad, being Brad, of course! I didn't know Brad before this trip, but he was also on the Purple team, so I was definately going to know him by the end of the week. ha ha.

This hillside of homes, is actually how all the homes are. Some are made from sugar cane, some from cinderblocks, some from wood.

We headed off the paved road and hit dirt roads off and up into areas that hadn't been reached before.

We got to our first church that we were setting up. It had dirt floors and sugar cane walls with a metal roof. No bathroom. The picture below was taken from the front of the church looking back to the door. We had 4 MD's set up, a eyeglass station and a pharmacy station. The local contact had gotten local people to help us with crowd control as well as interpretting as needed. Each MD had an interpreter and the pharmacy had an interpreter.

As soon as we pulled in there were people already lined up. From what I was told in years past, this was the norm. People would sometimes wait over night just to make sure they were going to be seen. But they were all patient and for the most part, well controlled. We didn't have too much of a problem. It was set for each medical team to see 250 people per day for each of the 5 days. That would be 750 patients per day. Each patient would be 'banded' with a certain color for medical eval, dental eval or eyeglasses eval. The bands would be cut off after receiving their prescriptions and then they would be escorted back beyond the entrance so that they couldn't come back through.

Keya, Me, Linda and Jolie! Keya was helping with entertaining kids, Linda and Jolie were helping with Health Promotion, like teaching them about washing their hands and washing fruits and vegetables, staying away from added sugar, etc.

Here is a picture after everyone got started. It filled up quickly. Everyone started here, through Health Promotion and then they were called in to one of the MD's as they became available.

We stopped seeing patients long enough for us to eat. After breakfast we had to pick up boxed lunches on the way to the lobby. So now it was time to see what treats were in store for me today. I had to write my name on it, so why not do what I do for my drinks in the ER. The Purple Team got a kick out of it!

After over 200 patients, we were done. Dental students were brought in after us for dental services. Wow, what a day! I couldn't believe it had gone by so quickly.

Headed back home!

This is how all the streets looked. There were trash piles about every 50 feet. Right in the middle of the road. When we left the hotel and traveled about 10 minutes after the clinic, you turn off of an interstate and then onto another interstate. You travel on this for about 10-15 minutes and come up, over a mountain....then the whole atmosphere and look changes. The smell was like a combination of wet circus animals and rotten food. It was horrible. And also where the trash showed up. Everywhere you looked....piles of trash!

Did I mention this is E V E R Y W H E R E!

I posted this pic on FB and Diane Vargo responded (I440 Beltline) ha ha! I loved it! Side saddle and all!

We got back to the hotel, took a shower, changed and then headed to dinner! Started off with soup! Yummy! Jolie had one and wanted another one, so she put this under the table and they brought her another one! ha ha ha

They have NO Dr. Pepper, and they call Coke, Coca Cola Regular. So when you order a Coke, you have to say Coca Cola Regular. Or they have Coca Cola Light! Go figure!

I have to get done, get on the computer and hope that I can catch Chris! Actually I dont think he wants me to catch him. But I keep trying!