6 December 2019
Since our last visit about 1 ½ years ago, many things have remained the same. Much of the staff is the same. Some of the nurses have been working with Adonai before they were nurses and before we first came nearly 11 years ago. The common diagnoses are the same: gastritis, pain everywhere, fatigue, worms, and of course pregnancy. When we headed up the mountain to Chiminisijuan on Tuesday, I was thankful to find that all the medicines where in the same place as always. And there were lots and lots of dogs growling and fighting and usual. Unfortunately, I stepped in the largest pile of something that was never clearly identified as canine or human. It took me a long time to even partially fix the problem with lots of sticks and very limited water, so I didn’t have time for many pictures. That was actually something new and not a repeated event. Thankfully.
Arriving at the Chiminisijuan Clinic.
Driving back down the mountain. You can see the airstrip and Canillá.
So, what else is new? I think the biggest thing I have noticed is that the staff has grown and is more experienced. The nurses now do a lot of the work that I used to get frustrated with. For example, they get all of the medicine ready, explain to the patients how to take them, give any necessary diet information (don’t eat spicy food, DRINK MORE WATER!, etc.), and shut down the patients that are trying to get more medicine than what they need. And they do it all in their native language of Quiché which the majority of patients speak. Many of the nurses do the prenatal care and ultrasounds essentially on their own. The staff takes care of charging the patients for any services, rooming them, and getting their charts ready. With the staff doing more things move more quickly. The hope for the Chiminisijuan clinic up the mountain is to have the nurses diagnose and treat most of the problems with one doctor supervising and doing the more complicated cases. It is encouraging to see the fruits of the work of the missionaries’ investment into training the local people to serve their own people with excellence and compassion.
