Sunday - Milwaukee-bound! :)

Travel day!  We each seemed to have renewed energy and excitement as we began our journey back to our families!  Our smiles were more genuine, our laughter more sincere..  it had been a long 8 days away from home!  We said goodbye to our gracious driver, Andy, who had taken such good care of us, and we boarded the puddle jumper!  We were pleasantly suprised that the plane didn't have to stop in Placencia, as we had on our trek the previous Sunday.  So, the puddle jumper only had one layover!  Even though each plane ride seemed to have much more turbulence than the one before it, we were excited to be heading home.  The reunion with our loved ones at the airport felt long overdue.  We have learned many lessons in Belize, but lesson that will stay with me the most is the everpresent importance of family.  I am so glad that we all went - AND I am so glad that we are all home, in the arms of our loved ones!

Afsaneh holds her "boarding pass" for the puddle jumper.. not quite the boarding passes we are used to!  :)

Saturday

Since the hurricane blew right by us, we were able to keep our initial plans of Snokeling with our guide, Roberto.  We were able to enjoy a full day on the sea!  Roberto steered his boat out to the Port of Honduras Marine Reserve, where he stopped at a great place for snorkeling.  Our two big sightings were a Spotted Eagle Ray and a Barracuda or two!  Once we were exhausted from snorkeling, Roberto took us to an island called the Snake Caye (pronounced key).  He set up hammocks for us and brought out the snorkel gear for anyone to continue to snorkel.  This island was also home to hundreds of hermit crabs!  While we were relaxing, exploring and swimming, Roberto was hard at work making our lunch.  He had brought food with him, and was cooking the BBQ chicken, fry jacks, beans, and potatos over the open fire.  He also added some coleslaw and this lunch was DELICIOUS!  Roberto tried to convince us to go snake hunting, but none of us were interested in doing that!  He did spot one non-poisonous snake hanging high above our heads in a tree.  When we were ready to leave, Roberto took a long way back, keeping an eye out for Mantees and Dolphins.  We didn't actaully get to see any - but it was a beautiful journey!  He also took us a few miles down the Jericho river.  It was a relaxing day - Just what we needed!  I think we were all in bed before 9:00 PM!

Friday

Friday morning we got up early, in preparation for our trek into the small village of Corazon.  Corazon is about 90 minutes away, and the only way to get there is to travel the unpaved roads deep into the jungle.  We were headed to Corazon to participate in the health fair that was being sponsored by the Belizian Ministry of Health.  The roads seemed to get rougher and rougher the further that we went.  Even the two elecetrical lines that lined the side of the road disappeared as we made a turn about 30 mintues into our journey.  We finally arrived in Corazon at about 9:00 AM, only to find that the health fair had been postponed one week, due to the possibility of the hurricane.  Dan, the NP from Hillside, suggested that we make the most of our visit - and do what we can since we had come all this way.  He went into the three room school (actually, 2 rooms inside, and one outdoor covered area) and spoke to the prinicpal.  We were welcomed into the classrooms to do some more health teaching.  These children were perhaps the most polite of all the groups that we had taught to during this trip, greeting us in unison "Hello Doctors!"  It was easy to smile in the presence of these children.
Once the teaching was complete, we made our way back to the Land Rover, to see that Dan had set up a table for us in the middle of the main road.  Next, we did health screenings.  Bette, Bobbie Jo and Nanette went door to door with the Peace Corp volunteer to let people know that we were in town, and would be doing screenings.  It wasn't long before Heather, Afsaneh, Kim and Deb had lines of people waiting to have the blood pressure and blood sugar checked.  Bette, Bobbie Jo, and Nanette mad their way through the town quickly, and joined the rest of us doing screenings.  Just as we were finishing up, the school let the children outside for recess.  They quickly came to join us, spending their whole recess listening to their heartbeats with our stethescopes and posing for pictures.  A few kids even tried their hands at photography!
On the ride back to PG, I think it was unanimous - We LOVED this day!  And it lived up to the message that we had heard many times before from Dan - "In Belize, the only predictable thing is that the day will be unpredictable!"

The evening time brought some more culture.  Bette, Bobbie Jo and Nannette joined some Hillside staff at the High School for a talent show.  Deb, Kim, Afsaneh, and Heather had a Belizian meal of Red Snapper (the whole fish!) and then headed into town to hear the Garifuna drummers at a spot overlooking the sea.  Everyone was in bed by 10:30 - this was an awesome, exhausting day!

Safe and Sound

Wifi has been very spotty over the last two days.  I have usually only encountered it when away from the hotel, and updating the blog on my cell phone is not an easy task.  We have had two great days, and I really can't wait to blog about them, but it will have to wait until I have a better wifi signal, which may be once we get home. 

Quick updates: 

• The hurricane that was in the area was downgraded to a tropical storm, and blew right by Belize.  We had some rain and choppy waters in the sea, but nothing more than that. 
• We finished our clinical hours yesterday, and were able to relax a bit today
• We begin our journey home tomorrow, boarding our first plane at 9:45 AM and arriving home late..  after 10:00 PM if my memory serves me right.  We have a 4.5 hour layover in Texas on the way home..  Yippee!

Miss you all and can't wait to see you!  :)

Eventful Thursday!

This morning we took our final rotations in the ER, Polyclinic, Hospital and home visits.  I think Bobbie Jo and Bette had the most exciting experience with a laboring woman whose labor was not progressing.  When they left, the medical team had made the decision to send the patient by helicopter to the Dandriga Hospital for a C-Section. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the helicopter - and they didn't get to ride along! 

There was no power and no running water in the entire south half of the country this morning. It was apparently a planned outage for repair, but no one seemed to know anything about it until just before it went out.  The outage began at 8:30 am and lasted until 12:30 pm.  It was interesting to see hospitals and clinics survive without both power and water.  I wished that hand sanitizer was available in massive ammounts, as it is back home.  That would have been very helpful. 

After lunch, we went to another elementary school to do health teaching.  The kids totally loved our Health Jeopardy game - so much so that the teachers asked to keep the questions and the Jeopardy board! 

Finally, tonight we spent time with the traditional snake healer.  Mostly he talked about herbs and methods of healing, but at the end he brought out jars with dead snakes in them so that we could see some of the poisonous snakes from this area.  It was another eye-opening experience!

Tomorrow we will be spending the day in a village 90 minutes away.  This village is having a health fair at the local school, and we will staff the booth for Hillside, providing blood pressure, diabetes and obesity screenings/education.  We are told that most of the 90 minute drive is not over paved roads.  We have expereinced that a lot - but the Land Rover, driven by Andy, gets us wherever we need to go! 

Good night friends and family!

Belizian Healthcare

We have taken turns working in a few of the different "healthcare" areas of Punta Gorda - The Polyclinic, Emergency Room, Hospital, and Home Nursing Visits.  Every one of these areas has been eye opening for us.  A few of our exciting experiences have been: 

• Mutiple patients in the 1 room ER at the same time - Bette and Bobbie Jo
• Brain Tumor patient arriving to ER actively seizing, transferred out to large hospital in Belize City - Deb, Kim, Nanette, and Afsaneh
• Birth of a beautiful baby girl at 10:04 this AM - Heather, Afsaneh and Kim

There are many more meaningful moments that have occured, but we have to save some stories for us to tell when we get home! 

We have also had the opportunity to have many unigue cultural experiences, such as:
Trip to the Mayan Ruins at Lubaantun, Garifuna Drumming and Dance Lesson, and Basket weaving and torilla making in the two room home of a local family with 11 children (pictured below).

Have to run now because we have much more work to do to prepare for tomorrow's teaching presentation in a local school.  We're playing Health Jeopardy! 

Homesickness Sets In

Dear Families,

We miss you so much, it is hard to even quantify that in words.  Being here in this poor country, many times we see that "family" is the only thing that these people have.  Their material possesions are so small, their houses are in such poor repair - and yet the love is evident in every action.  Grandsons attending to their grandmothers every need, parents so proud of their children, just a peaceful sense of family is second nature to the Belizians.  And that is so wonderful to be around - it is a great example for us, and potentially the largest lesson that we will take away from this.  However, right now, seeing all of this love and family, makes us ache to be near you, our loved ones.  I don't think that there is a single one of us that hasn't cried in their few spare alone moments.  So, please know that we love you, we miss you, and we are all safe.  The mommies send kisses for their children.  The wives send warm embraces to their husbands.  But don't worry - we are sure to experience everything that we can while we are here, and I'm sure that we will all be better people for it in the end. 

BSN Students prior to clinicals

Monday, November 2, 2009

Market is offered in PG 4 days a week, and this morning we got up early to experience the PG Market! Fresh fruits and veggies lined the streets. We returned to the clinic and officially met all of the other students – med students, residents, PA and pharmacy students – and met the rest of the staff. After the orientation, we split up into groups, for our first taste of Belizian Healthcare!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

We survived all of the flights! Tropic Air was an interesting experience! These puddle jumpers had 14 seats, plus the pilot. Some of the seats were loveseat style and one was even next to the pilot! We all thought that the puddle-jumper flights were much better than we had anticipated. Although, we did get nervous for the last landing, in the dark, with fog so thick that we couldn’t see anything. But the pilot hit the unlit runway without even a bump! We were greeted at the “airport” by our fantastic driver and companion, Andy. Andy is a native Belizian, and he has been taking GREAT care of us! We were also met by Danny and his wife Maria, the Nurse Practitioners that run Hillside. We had a traditional Belizian meal at a restaurant and then made our way to the dorms. We were exhausted and most of us were in bed before 9:30!

Culture Shock

Hello from Punta Gorda, Belize! First things first: We are writing this blogpost from The Coral House Inn, located in PG. We have all but given up on receiving a wifi signal at the dorms and the clinic. We got some take out food and are enjoying our evening overlooking the Caribbean , looking forward to swimming in this beautiful pool and utilizing their wifi with a glass of wine! The moral of this story is that we will update the blog when we can, but we are unable to guarantee updates with any regularity!


Alright, now that we have that information covered, we have 2 whole days to fill you in on!

Meet our group: Left - Right

Heather, Afsaneh, Nanette, Bette, Bobbie Jo, Kim and Deb

They Made it, everything is well, and no wifi (for now)

This short blogpost comes from Heather's Husband, Andrew.

Here is the good new that was sent to me and passed on everyone:

They are all made it to the dorm in Punta Gorda, Belize. Due to rain they are without signal for wireless internet. The cellphone is also intermittent.

More interesting new to come from the group to come.

Hope all is well and safe.

Just a Few Tidbits About the Hillside Clinic

Just a few tidbits taken directly from Hillside's website - (linked on the right side of your screen)

"Hillside Health Care International (HHCI) is a faith based, non-profit organization dedicated to serving God by providing health care and disease prevention to the people of Southern Belize. HHCI is devoted to improving the Belizean quality of life through medical care, health education, and community outreach."

"Through its main clinic in the little township of Eldridgevile and mobile outreach clinics to more than a dozen indigenous villages, HHCI volunteers provide over 8000 free patient visits each year. Without HHCI’s efforts, the rural and remote populace of the Toledo district would have little or no access to medical care."

"Though close collaboration with the Belize Ministry of Health and local Non-Governmental Organizations, HHCI continues to expand its outreach to include free dental and physical therapy services and the facilitation of public health research. The Hillside Clinic has become the conduit for the provision of accessible primary medical care, adjunct health care services, community health education, disease prevention and public health research in service of the poorest citizens in Belize. This is accomplished through a program sustained by volunteers. Based in Milwaukee, WI, HHCI is an IRS approved 501(C)3 organization."

And tomorrow, the seven of us will be experiencing this first hand!  :)

FAQ's

I have gotten a couple of questions repeatedly as I talked about this trip, and I thought it would be nice to address them here.  Feel free to ask more questions by commenting on this entry!

Have you brushed up on your Spanish?
Thankfully, Belize is an English speaking country.  Formerly known as British Honduras, Belize was a territory owned by Britian.  Belize is home to many different cultures, but the official language is English!

I know someone who went on a vacation there.  Are you sure that Belize a third world country?
Yes, Belize is considered a third world country.  There are some areas that survive on tourism, but overall, the country is very poor.  The average annual income is less than $8000 Belizian Dollars... Which is (roughly) $4000 American Dollars. 

Tomorrow's Journey

It's late, and many are out celebrating Halloween tonight.. But, I am updating the blog!  I am full of anticipation for tomorrow's trip, and find myself unable to sleep. 

Tomorrow, we have 4 layovers.  Yes, that's right, 4!

Milwaukee to Houston

Houston to Belize City

Belize City to Dangriga

Dangriga to Placencia

Placencia to Punta Gorda

Once we take off from Belize City, we will be on a true puddle-jumper plane - landing and taking off after short 20 minute flights within Belize.  It should be an adventure!  :)

T Minus 5 Days

The ProHealth BSN Completion Students had their last Pre-Belize class tonight, and the excitement is palpable! Don't forget your DEET and anti-malarials! :)

See you all bright and early on Sunday Morning.. and remember daylight savings starts on Sunday.. Fall Behind!