By Jamie F., Guestblogger from Cusco, Peru SALUDprogram
Thursday I got to work with the Peruvian doctor and help her do physicals and exams and write prescriptions. Then on Friday I went with her and a nurse and pharmacist to a very poor village about an hour and a half outside of Cusco where they set up a clinic for 3 hours. These people live about 30 min off any main roads and many only speak Quetichan which is the ancient Incan language and some of the poor villages only speak that language.
A few of the patients we saw had dermatitis all over because they couldn’t shower or chose not too because it was so cold and the water is freezing. Even if the water wasn’t so cold they wouldn’t have showered very often anyways since there was definitely no running water. Others were a lot of the typical sickness and cavities (sometimes they had a dentist with them).
The doctor had me and my friend Aaron (who just finished his first year of med school) do all the examinations and tell her what we found while she wrote the prescriptions and the history. All of the services were given to these people for free including the medication and the clinic is there every Friday from 9-12 or so. They also go to other poor communities on other days which is just wonderful that they can provide these services for people who can’t. Obviously this was all in Spanish and a bit of Quetichwan so sometimes it was difficult to get everything across but regardless it was absolutely a phenomenal experience.
At the end there was a lady who had broken her leg and hadn’t moved in weeks probably. She had a makeshift cast made out of wood and some sort of paper and she needed a shot for inflammation since her entire foot and leg were still extremely swollen. I was going to give her the IM shot but since we did this in her house (really adobe clay hut with hay) and it was a hard angle Aaron ended up putting it in. Aaron and I both thought that it was probably one of the best and most eye opening experiences of our lives.
Then Friday afternoon I left for an 8 hour bus ride to Puno and Lake Titicaca, which is the highest navigable lake in the world at around 4000m and 8560km squared. That’s where I am now but I will write more about that later. There is just so much to write about. I hope you all enjoy hearing about it all because I don’t know if my writing really is doing Peru justice but I hope it is!
Click for information on AmeriSpan’s language programs in Cusco.
Click for information on AmeriSpan’s SALUD program in Cusco.
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