Winston-Salem Group

On Saturday, the group from Winston-Salem left for their respective homes. They, as well as the rest of us, experienced a lot of rain during their mission trip. This interrupted quite a few activities including some in the clinic. However, from my view point the week still went very well as we had an endocrinologist, a gastroenterologist, and a nurse visiting in the group.

Dr. Phipps (endocrinologist) was able to spend Monday and Tuesday morning assessing patients with various problems (diabetes, obesity, thyroid issues). He was able to diagnosis, rule out problems and get people started on better diets as well as adjust insulin doses. I know that the community is thankful for all the work he did! In addition to consultations, Dr. Phipps also helped another diabetic in the community by teaching him how to care for an unhealed wound he has had for 4 years and taking some skin off of the wound to allow it to heal better. Hopefully with some adjustments in Chercho's insulin, he can get his sugar down from the 220 range, which is very high. The doctor was able to provide Chercho with a glucotex, which reads blood sugar so that he can adjust his insulin.

Chercho, Dr. Phipps and Mrs. Porter

Many people in the community have diabetes or are at high risk for diabetes. Uncontrolled and under managed diabetes can be the cause of many issues including blindness, heart attacks and loss of feeling in extremities, which leads to open wounds that heal slower and can eventually create the need for the extremity to be amputated. In response to this, both Dr. Phipps and Dr. Bruggen (gastroenterologist) decided to go door to door in the community along with one of our summer staff, Rob, to take blood pressure and blood sugar readings. They were able to identify some people with hypertension and others that may have diabetes so that we can follow up with them. Hopefully, we can continue to do screenings once or twice a year to identify people with hypertension and diabetes.

Rob taking blood sugar readings

Dr. Bruggen also gave consults on Tuesday morning, but because of the rain was unable to see patients on Wednesday morning. We are all very thankful for his assistance -- I know that those with long-term stomach pain were glad to get some answers. Mrs. Porter (nurse) was very helpful. She assisted both doctors by screening patients and checking them in on Monday and Tuesday. She also worked with our medical assistant to give her a little more training and answered a lot of my questions.

Dr. Bruggen monitoring blood pressure

I hope that the doctors and Mrs. Porter can all come back soon!

10 months

So, I have been here in the DR for 10 months now...

Quick recap:

Moved here on August 31st... learned to drive in the crazy traffic that occurs here daily, where all laws are ignored. Spent the next 3 months with my tutor Carlos, learning Spanish. Was a part of the short-term missions staff for the October group where I helped facilitate translation and organization for various projects including: cabinet making, dental care, physical therapy room setup, painting and dedication, house construction, jewelry making and more.

October trip, dental care coordination

Went home for Christmas and spent time in Ohio as well as being a bridesmaid in my friend's beautiful wedding. Returned on New Years and was a part of the short-term missions staff for Rockford Christian's high school trip. Awesomeness ensued when 3 houses were constructed and I gave the Colonial Zone tour for the 2nd time. 11th of January accepted position as Director of Healthcare Ministries with the Medical Clinic. January 12th earthquake in Haiti -- spent rest of the week preparing food, water and medicines for Haitian relief. January 16th travel to Haiti to deliver supplies and arrive back around midnight.

Checking in on the construction

February 15th beginning of the Community Health Program which has had several major projects including trash clean up to eliminate places where mosquitos can lay their eggs to prevent Malaria and Dengue. Also, a class to teach 20 health promoters (almost all women, all live in the community), vaccination campaign and most recently a movie on domestic violence where we had 150 people come to watch!

Cleaning up trash in Cielo

March -- college and high school trips from the U.S. including OSU (woot woot! go bucks!). Amazing time working with the groups and organizing volunteers in the clinic. Continued organizing the clinic, moving rooms and equipment around, purchasing equipment and supplies and working with patients. In April went back to Ohio to visit and raise support. Also, spent time with my family helping them unpack in Maryland.

Myself and Dr. Nunez before I left for home

May brought some more support raising and preparations for June trips. As well as lots of preparation for our likely partnership with the Asociacion Dominicana de Rehabilitacion. And here we are in June where we have had several trips already and will have our last short-term trip next week. First group, worked with Dr. Mark to give dental care to employees. Next week we will have an endocrinologist, gastroentonologist, speech therapist and counselor in the clinic. So excited!

Things are going awesome. I've been amazingly blessed and am excited for the things God is going to do in the next 2 years and 2 months. This experience has already been invaluable, but I know that I will grow and learn so much more in the next few years. Thanks to everyone for your prayers, thoughts and financial support throughout these past 10 months!

Elisa (Mission Emanuel's office secretary) and I

Dental Care

We have been working with the Cielo school (100+ children) to give the children information on how to brush and care for their teeth. After an orientation on dental hygiene, children are then given a teeth cleaning and emergency assistance such as fillings for cavities and pulling teeth where necessary. Parents are sent a paper to let them know what other dental work their child needs as well.

Its awesome to see that the kids are receiving education on how to care for their teeth. Since we will be working with the school children annually the reinforced education will help to change oral hygiene habits. Hopefully, as adults they will not have as many dental problems and will raise their children with good oral hygiene.

We realize that some of the children are too young (three to seven years old) to really understand the importance of what we are telling them. So, we had a meeting last Tuesday night with the parents of the Cielo school kids. Dr. Jose Manuel Gomez presented a powerpoint prepared by his assistant Heidi about oral hygiene. The presentation lasted about a half an hour and covered the anatomy of the tooth, how to prevent cavities, good nutrition and dental appointments. Time was then given for parents to ask questions. There were about 50 parents present at the meeting. All and all a very successful night!

Last week, we were blessed to have Dr. Mark Kingry spending time doing dental cleanings for our employees. He was able to clean teeth and put in fillings for the most part, but had to pull some teeth as well. We are hoping that in the future employees as well as the community will have improved dental hygiene and won't need to have their teeth pulled! We are so thankful to Mark and all of his hard work! He also spent time talking to our new dental assistant Heidi about techniques and equipment use. It was an invaluable experience for her and our dental clinic.

Some exciting things have been happening in the clinic with dental care. I believe that we really take dentist appointments for granted in the United States and rarely think about the adverse affect a cavity or infection in the mouth can have on a person without access to dental care. An infection in the mouth is just as dangerous and potentially deadly as one anywhere else in the body. I am so thankful to Dr. Jose Manuel and Heidi for their hard work and to all those who have been supporting them and our clinic! We really are making a difference.