Today we traveled to the community of Mojarras. It was the first day of sunshine, and our bus ride took us through scenic mountain landscapes. What a beautiful day to serve God’s children!
Don Boyd and John faced a challenging situation today — one of their pediatric patients needed a deworming pill. The child’s mother insisted that she could take the pill just fine without Fanta, so John gave her the pill, and she began chewing, and chewing, and chewing. By John’s observation of the young girl’s facial expression, the pill likely did not taste very good. Nevertheless, she finished all the medicine…so John gave her his cross!
Jamie and Marco, working in the eye clinic, found themselves in heartbreaking circumstances. A lady came to the clinic in need of glasses; however, even the strongest prescription could not help her vision. This was cause for much sadness. However, they did have a patient who, as soon as she put on her new glasses, was able to see the faces of her family members! In that moment, it was as if she was beaming with sunshine!
Mary Lee and Don Boyd both saw a boy with a congenital facial abnormality in which his face plates grow unevenly, causing half of his face to droop. Fortunately, when the boy grows older there are surgical procedures that can treat this condition.
Over in the dental clinic, Dr. Adan had a difficult case. He was extracting a tooth and had to do quite a bit of work to ensure that all of the roots had been removed. After thirty or so minutes of extracting, it was time to suture the patient’s gums. Mary Lee, recognizing that Dr. Adan was quite exhausted from the long extraction, stepped in and assisted him with the suturing. We were all so grateful for the amazing skills of these two amazing doctors!
At the end of the day, our nurse educator, Pascuala, presented certificates to graduates of her community health education program. We joined with the community in celebrating the accomplishments of these graduates who will help make their communities healthier. The impacts of this health education program are already evident — members of the community were able to recognize the signs of pre-eclampsia in one of their expectant mothers. As a result, they were able to ensure that she delivered her baby in a hospital rather than at home, which likely saved her and her baby’s life.
