MEDIC!

Ok, so it was not that kind of medical clinic, but it was still pretty hectic. After staying the night at the Villa, I headed out with a medical group to Guacimo, Limon early Thursday morning to help run a medical clinic. When we got to the church, they set their stuff up and started seeing people right away. At first, since I do not have any medical knowledge or Spanish skills, I helped reorganize some medicine so that everyone got double the amount of some typical, over-the-counter stuff. This was the group’s last clinic, and they had plenty of extra medicine, so they wanted to make sure they gave as much out as possible. In addition to medicine, they also had some basic reading glasses to give out, which I guess is a really big help to the people here. After finishing with that, I helped shuffle patients between the main line in the church, and a smaller one right outside the exam room. I did not feel very useful, though, because another guy was doing it also and knew how it worked a lot better than I did. Around noon, we were all going to break for lunch together, but there was a miscommunication, so we had to eat in shifts. That kind of made things crazy, but I guess it did mean we never had to stop seeing people while we ate. By the time everyone was done eating, the doctors had treated about 64 people. After lunch, I helped move the lines again, but this time I got the hang of things and felt much more useful. We worked for about 4 more hours nonstop, and treat another 140 or so people. In all, the group gave basic exams, medicine, and to some, reading glasses, to a total of just over 200 people. It was amazing! I think it was the best thing I have done here so far. After packing everything up, we headed to the Villa for dinner, then I headed back to the Casa SCORE. One thing I would like to ask is that you pray for the pastor of the church we were at. He is from Argentina, and has waited 20 years to come to Costa Rica to start a church. I think he has been here for about a year, and was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. He is going through Chemo right now, and needs strength for that, courage for his family, and a heart to continue his ministry. I know he would really appreciate your prayers. I also want to share how this medical team came to Costa Rica. For about 15 years, the leaders of this group have been going to Honduras for their clinics, but on July 2 they had to cancel this year’s trip because of the overthrow of the president, and the U.S. State Department’s subsequent advisory not to travel there. Well, some phone calls were made, and by July 4 they were set to come down here and stay with SCORE. And what a blessing they have been!