Day one is officially in the books. After a quick breakfast, the team got a tour of the clinic in action before heading to Canaan to do construction. While there, the team split their time between sanding interior cement walls (to prep for painting) and painting a duplex to prep for move in day for two deserving families. While the work was rewarding (and in the shade inside the house), the team really enjoyed taking pictures with the kids and seeing how excited they were for a team of americans to come and invest in their community. The team even got to see a child who now lives with her mom in the house that they worked on last year. It's awesome when things come full circle like that! Tomorrow, the team will head back to the work site, and will have a chance to visit the house they worked on last year and talk with the family that lives there.
While the students and most of the adults headed off to Canaan, nurse Jenn from the team stayed behind to conduct well child checks. Every child in the sponsorship program (over 600!) receives a well child check annually, and we're getting close to having everyone get their checkup for the year. The day was a mix of healthy kids with minor complaints interspersed with children needing more attention and instruction. Because many of our patients have little or no experience seeing a doctor or nurse, a lot of time is spent with every patient explaining the basics (explaining that someone doesn't need an individual pill for every symptom they experience, take this pill with food, don't share it with other people, etc). We managed to see over 25 patients today, and well child checks will continue throughout the week.
Right now the team is relaxing on the roof while learning some creole before heading into the cafeteria for a quick slideshow about PID (what we do, where we work, some details of the different programs).
Check in tomorrow for another update!
Intern Mike
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