Chirripó update

I so appreciate your continued prayers for my trips to Chirripó.  The last two trips were in December '09 and March of this year.  The next trip will be this coming July.  I prayed for help and God sent it! On these last two trips there were other medical volunteers for the first time.  In December we had another nurse, a nutritionist, and a dental hygienist join our team.  In March the nurse and nutritionist returned and another nurse joined our team.  In July another nurse, a friend from our church in Oregon, (Sadie Bertleson for those who know her) is coming to help.  It is quite a luxury to have all this medical help!  I'm still praying and hoping to have a doctor someday and a dentist to join one or more or all of the trips!

Here are a few pictures from the last two trips, First the December trip and then the March trip:

This was our December team.  There were 19 of us:  13 Costa Ricans, 4 Canadians, and 2 of us from the States.

We set up a clinic in the church.  Here people are waiting to get their weight, height, and vitals taken before being seen in the clinic room.  We used sheets to divide off a private clinic room.

There were ladies on our team who helped by getting weight and height.

There were ladies who wrote down names, ages, and reason for visit to the clinic as well as height and weight onto 3X5 cards that each patient brought into the clinic room.

Here nurse Crystal takes vital signs.

Inside the clinic room I had a great helper, Yenny.

I did general assessments especially on  babies and young children...

...and treatments as needed.  This young girl had severely dry, cracked feet which was actually preventing her from being able to walk!

While the clinic was going on inside the church, a dental cleaning demonstration was taking place outside. 

The kids practice brushing their teeth.

Humble clinic set-up for serving around 70 people! 

Our March team.  There were 13 of us: 6 Costa Ricans, 4 Canadians, and 3 of us from the States.

The "Four C's" medical team: Cindy, Cheryl, Candice, and Crystal along with Herbin, our Cabecar transltor.

Nutritionist Candice and translator Beningni with the famous life cycle of stomach parasites poster. 

Anti-parasite medication

After seeing Candice the patients would see the nurses.

Public school storeroom turned clinic.

Nurse Crystal listening to lung and heart sounds.

Patient assessment.  I can't remember what we where looking at, something behind the ear.

Some patients received boots if they didn't have shoes, a measure taken to help prevent them from getting stomach parasites, which can enter through bare feet.

Looking at very swollen tonsils. 

Documenting patient charts.

Chief Arnaldo with a broken wrist.  We put on this temporary splint, then took him out with us and to the hospital where he got a plaster cast.  Sure hope he remembers to go back on April 14 to get the cast removed!

Thank you so much for your prayers!  Our team was kept safe and we had all we needed to treat the many patients we saw.  If you would like to see more photos of Chirrpo I have them all posted on my facebook account.   

~Cindy 

Medical office at Hogar de Vida

Hogar de Vida now has a medical office/dispensary where I work and any medical staff/volunteers can work.  Recently an eMi spouse who is a physical therapist started volunteering and at the end of April a nurse is coming from the States to help for three months.  We also have a child-development specialist living on site now who will make use of this space.  I prayed for help and the troops are coming!

This is the exam area/work area.  It's missing a couple things like a scale and a sharps box.  I still mostly do house calls, but expect to have more visitors here as the idea catches on. 

Putting together First Aid kits to go in each car, house, and other key areas on campus.

Each child has a medical chart on campus where I keep track of meds, weights, appointments, illnesses, etc.

My desk, a kids desk for little workers, and a well-stocked medicine cabinet!

Almost all of these medications were donated by my church or from teams that come through.  Thank you!! Oh, and I wear scrubs now.  I love wearing them!

My cute little helper, Lucy.  She is living on campus with her missionary family.  Tim's mom made the adorable kid-size scrubs and I picked up a few toy doctor kit supplies here.  My hope/plan is to do "play therapy" with the kids, especially those who are so frightened of going to the doctor. 

~Cindy