República Dominicana: Day Three

Monday February 18, 2008

We awake at 6:30am, groggy and sluggish. Breakfast occurs, water bottles are filled, and the roving pharmacy in suitcases is loaded onto a bus. 8:30am and the hospital group leaves for their surgeries and cases, and the roaming clinic group rides the bus for a Dominican neighborhood, or "batey" (ba-TAY).

Batey #7 is our stop: a poor conglomerate of shacks and shanties. Rocky dust-covered roads jostle the bus. Those with motion sickness are stricken; Dramamine is in order. We arrive at the "clinic" of Batey #7 at 9:30am and set up our pharmacy in an outbuilding. The doctors, nurses, and triage station take their spots in the clinic proper. Four ladies with craft supplies set up outside with beads, string, glue, etc. for the kids.

The crafts were the hit of the day for the kids. As the four ladies were sitting on the ground showing the kids how to make bracelets and necklaces, the kids attacked. Like shark programs on the Discovery Channel where chum is thrown into the water and the camera shows a fury of teeth, the kids were all arms and fingernails and screaming. The ladies are overwhelmed and literally crawl away trying to stay intact. The little monsters ran off with all the crayons, all the glue, all the markers, and all the string. OK, so what do we do the rest of the week? Luckily, the ladies were not hurt. Added quite a charge into our first contact with the locals.

Anyway, at 10:30am we see our first patient and fill that first prescription. We work on tables and pull our drugs out of suitcases. I had heard that it's back-breaking at times, and they would be correct. We set-up while the others wait for the patients to roll in. Then we're filling RX's all morning. Then while the others take a break for lunch, we're still filling the backlog of RX's. Once we're caught up and done for our own lunch, the others have been off for about an hour and are itching to get back to work. So once we're done eating, there's no time for lollygagging like the others could do. Back to filling all afternoon, and again, once the final patient is seen, we're still filling. Everyone else is photographing or playing with the kids, and we're still working. Once we're done, we pack up our supplies and drug-filled suitcases and pack up the bus to go home. Our day is packed, and our day is hectic; however it is a day of wonder and amazement. Our first day is sweaty and dusty and hot, but it's successful and I'm beyond content.

We're back to the hotel by 6:00pm and a nice cool shower is in order, virtually the best part of every day. Then it's dinner and another evening of Presidente beer, a bottle of Scotch, and Cuban cigars.

Final tally for our first workday? 140 patients were seen, with approximately 450 RX's filled. A good day...outside of the riot.