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!
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