Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Day 18: Another Day in Paradise

We stopped at the frame store today before heading to the school, and we had a bit of a disagreement about what our priorities should be for Los Pipitos. Paloma had suggested this place and she said she wanted to frame the posters rather than hang them using tape. As it turned out, the cost was fairly high - U.S.$13.00 each! We have 8 posters, so that adds up to U.S.$104 for all of them. I very much wanted to do this and leave a clinic that is bright, cheerful, and decorated with medically oriented, child-friendly posters that would last a long time. Christine felt strongly that we should not be spending the money on posters, but on something more relevant to the needs in the school. Ultimately, I chose to donate the cost of framing 2 posters, and I will see if I can get my husband to bring laminating material when he comes next week to protect the rest of the posters. 

Lily Examines a Child
We didn't get to the school until after 11:00, and the children were dancing to very loud music and then went to lunch. I spent the morning working on the proposal for Paloma, covering the needs that we identified for a regular nurse to be in the clinic and check the children's health. I found a number of very good Internet resources that provided some sobering facts for the background section of the proposal. I should have it finished some time tomorrow.
Paloma and Chilo

In the meantime, Christine and Lily checked out several children. There are quite a number who have impacted wax in their ears, and we are considering doing some flushing of the ears. We will have to get some sterile water and hydrogen peroxide. I checked out one little boy and, when I asked his age, he said he was six years old. His height and weight were probably appropriate for an 8-year-old. We found out from Elvis that the boy is SIXTEEN years old! This could be due to malnutrition. It was quite shocking.

My Neighbor
I didn't take many photos today, but will fill in by uploading some of the ones from the past few weeks that I haven't included. They are from my neighborhood here in Granada and from the Los Pipitos school. Enjoy! 

Man in the Street
Dinner at El Tercer Ojo
Tonight we ate dinner at El Tercer Ojo (The Third Eye). The food was great, but the bill was high (at least for here!)! We made up for the fact that we had no lunch today and had big meals and dessert. Tomorrow we will buy some mercury thermometers for the clinic and try to get there early, since Dr. Guitierra will be there with her nurse.




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