Team Costa Rica: Clinic Day 2

¡Hola todos!
Today, we set up our clinic in Pavas and had a lot of fun helping patients. Our day started off early with breakfast at the hotel and was followed by an awesome devotional that started our day thinking about community. After reuniting with our translators, we headed out to Pavas to set up the clinic. Unlike the clinic on Monday, there was a little more space, although the providers were on the second story. After getting set up, the patients all came flooding in and we got to work!

Pavas locals were lined up outside the clinic once we opened our doors. Our registration team, made up of Costa Rican translators and South Carolina volunteers, took baseline information and measurements and moved patients to triage. Patients went from seeing nurses at triage to providers and finished off their visit with us at pharmacy and glasses.

Though each clinical day is filled with the same tasks and regular flow of a clinic each location has its own culture and people that make each day a valuable experience. We served 137 members of the Pavas community many of whom were Nicaraguan, Columbian, Honduran and Costa Rican. Around ten in the morning, we had the opportunity to serve refugees who might have struggled to access care in the traditional Costa Rican health care setting.

Because our supplies are still limited, our team of doctors has put their creativity to work. Today Dr. Drew administered an inhaled medication to a baby struggling to breathe, using a toilet paper roll as a spacer.

After our clinic finished, we were given the amazing opportunity to visit the Pavas Christ for the City center. We met many spectacular young men who are working with Christ for the City to overcome their addictions with alcohol and drugs. It was a learning experience for us all because we were able to see the effects of Christ improving the lives of others. Before leaving, we were also able to practice our emergency response skills using a cardboard splint on a team member who hurt their ankle.
We concluded our night with a big dinner of Costa Rican pasta! As a team, we reflected on the day and gave each other shoutouts on all the awesome things we accomplished. It was a great day and we were able to help many people in the community of Pavas. What we did was very rewarding, and seeing the smiles of the people we helped was enough to repay us many times over.

Ethan Mills, Student, the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics
Aimee Ahuja, Student, the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics