Hey everyone, Today was our last day of clinic for this week, and we wrapped up in a place known as el Bronce. Each day, a student has been assigned a role in each of the four stations through the clinic (triage, medical, pharmacy, and evangelism). Leading up to Friday, I had spent one day in triage checking patients in and three days with physicians in the medical stations to help gather information about current illnesses. Today, I had the privilege of working in the pharmacy station, which included filling medications as well as explaining to patients how to take these medications. It has been a fun experience learning the flow of the clinic. Reflecting back on our first week, I wanted to share my thoughts on one difficult aspect of the trip and one rewarding aspect of the trip. First off, the difficult – in clinic, we’re often seeing patients with a wide range of backgrounds, from children to people in their late 80s. Some of the issues we see simply cannot be addressed in a pop-up clinic like ours, and though we prescribe medications to help ease pain or discomfort, sometimes the illnesses are not treatable. This becomes especially difficult when it is an illness that can be treated in the U.S. with long term care or can be treated with lifestyle changes that the people we’re seeing simply don’t have the ability to make. It is something I feel like I have struggled with this week, especially in some instances when I feel like we are putting a band-aid on a bigger issue. That being said, there are a number of cases we have seen in which we have been able to help greatly, and it is important to remind myself that our support goes beyond just medical treatment. One aspect of clinic that has been incredibly rewarding is praying with patients after discussing medical treatment. Many of the people here are very receptive to prayer and often pray alongside us in their language, whether Spanish or Creole. We often all share smiles after praying, and there is something deeply gratifying about sharing smiles with someone else, despite the presence of a language barrier. Prayers for guidance, grace, and communication would be greatly appreciated going into week 2. So far, it has been a great experience growing closer to the team of providers and fellow students while helping bringing medical and spiritual support to different communities. -Beck Wilkes, Student at UABSOM p.s. If there is anything specific any of you would like to see included in the blogs, make sure to leave a comment underneath the blog.
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