Politilly
Wednesday, day 4!
The first day at the new clinic in Politilly. The team started the day early with breakfast at 6:30am but then had to wait till about 7:25am to leave - the roads next to the hotel are closed to traffic for 25 minutes in the morning while school is letting in. During a quick stop at the pharmacy for additional meds that we were low on, a few of us got out of the bus to stretch our legs before heading to the new clinic about 30 minutes away on the eastern part of the island. As we arrived, people were waiting outside for us, applauding as we entered the building.
Everyone got situated into their specific areas of this small clinic. Rooms had to be shared by 2-3 providers plus one or two interpreter. We frequently bumped into each other and the patients just trying to move inside the rooms and hallways. In the "store", where we give away flip flops, clothing, bibles and more, we had new supplies that had been saved for these last two days. All items were unpacked and set out on a couple of tables to allow patients to know what all we had to offer. It was refreshing to see adults, children, and whole families families so grateful to be seen and heard.
Being in a new space was overwhelming and chaotic at first, the hallway was without A/C, very crowded and loud with patients waiting in the heat and one of our local interpreters using a megaphone to overcome the noise. Some of our apple watches warned us of a dangerously loud environment.... Several large fans were set up which helped move the air and as soon as we figured out a system, everything ran very smoothly. Although there was impatience and some confusion on who needed to be seen next, we noticed that as soon as they stepped in the specialist room or the store it was calm. They were greeted by name, touched on the arm, and asked to share about aches, pains, needs or feelings. Everyone knew that they were cared for and left smiling, asking us to come back and and many gave us hugs.
We want to give a special shout out to our non-medical volunteers. It is hard to know what your purpose will be when you join a medical team and are not a provider of any kind. But our people, Jerry, Joe, Lorren, Leslie, Sawyer, Chris and Mario all stepped up to help anywhere they were asked to go. Leslie created order out of the chaos at intake and kept the waiting masses calm and happy, Joe and Sawyer manned the store with precision, Jerry was everywhere as our "MacGyver" or patient flow coordinator, Lorren was our super statistics workaholic, Mario translated wherever needed (often for two providers at the same time) and Chris was a machine in the pharmacy. The medical team can't function well without this amazing support and we are so thankful to all of them.
The clinic day came to an end around 3. The pharmacy was still going for about another 30 minutes as everyone packed their bags and helped clean up a bit. We where able to leave our supplies in the rooms overnight to be ready for us the next morning, our last day. It was so fun being in a new space and seeing new people, especially when it isn’t super hot! We couldn't wait for the last day, hopefully the best and smoothest. We prayed for Carol and her family and asked that for tomorrow we be sent the people that need us the most.
In the evening Dr Paul Gale gave us a tour of the temporary hospital that has been set up in a local church. They have temporary wards divided by curtains but still no true emergency room, radiology, sterilization or operating rooms. We got to see the area that is being prepared to be temporary emergency and operating facilities until the new hospital can be completed. It was eyeopening to comprehend the limitations they work under day after day and we promised to help wherever we can.