Day 19: Only 10 days to go!

So, where has the time gone??? Here we are with only 10 days before we head home, and it seems like the time just flew by! Today, we were in the clinic and I couldn't believe how organized everything was! We no longer have to deal with disorganized files, cleaning of walls, floors, and furniture, or lack of supplies and equipment! We get there and get right down to business - seeing the children!

Lily Examines a Child

I finished the proposal for Paloma today and we will be meeting Monday morning to discuss it. I am hoping it is acceptable to her. My next step is incorporating that into the proposal for the College of Nursing and Los Pipitos to establish a long-term partnership. Christine, Lily and I have brainstormed and come up with some wonderful ideas for where this experience can take us! One idea we have is development of a course in the Nursing Program at SU addressing nursing care of individuals with disabilities. There are a huge number of issues, including mobility, communication, cognition, and psychosocial that can be foci of nursing care. The course can include other aspects of disabilities, including legal issues and educational issues, and the clinical component can be here in the Granada Los Pipitos school. From our discussion with the Dean of UPOLI's School of Nursing, this would also give SU a unique course that she would be interested in with respect to a student exchange program. 

Little Girl Seen in the Clinic

The doctor from the Centro de Salud was supposed to come to the clinic today, but she did not come. This is one of the problems with the arrangement; whenever there is a busy clinic where she works, she will not come to the Los Pipitos clinic. There is no warning - she just doesn't show up.  

We have found most of the children very passive when we examine them. Very few are curious about what we are doing and even fewer are obviously afraid, resisting even the placement of an axillary thermometer. We have learned that several of the children have probably never been seen by a doctor in their lives. 

Christine with Child

Today it rained during the day instead of at night. We had a few days when the rain only came at night, and it was very hot during the day but at least it was dry. When it rains during the day, it's a bit cooler, but the rains are very heavy and one can almost not avoid getting wet. We decided to leave early at 3:00 p.m. so Christine and I could meet before dinner to discuss her scholarly project.


We met at the bar at Casa San Francisco for happy hour, where I had the opportunity to meet the hotel manager, Melissa, from Hartford, Connecticut. She invited us to a pot-luck at her house tomorrow evening, but Christine and Lily will be taking the 11:00 a.m. bus to Managua to go out of town for the weekend. I may go to the dinner, depending on how I feel. I'm still dealing with the remnants of a cold.

Susan with 16-year-old Los Pipitos Boy

I made a reservation to eat dinner at my hotel tonight and Christine and Lily went off on their own. Dinner was wonderful - bruchetta, fish in banana leaves, and vanilla flan! It was a bit strange because this was the 2nd time I ate dinner at Hotel con Corazon where I was the only patron!

Los Pipitos Kids

With only 10 days left, I am very ambivalent about leaving. I feel like we've been able to make a very little difference in the lives of the children at Los Pipitos, although I believe strongly that we have the potential to make a huge impact given more time. We've developed a nice rapport with the staff and the children, and we've made contacts within the health care sector that will be beneficial for our future engagement here. At the same time, I'm anxious to get back to Seattle to prepare for classes, and, frankly, I'm looking forward to being able to make my hair look decent again! It doesn't do well in the heat and humidity here in Nicaragua!


Tomorrow, Christine and Lily will go to the clinic in the morning to complete the screening of the children before they head out of town. I will start working on some preparation for fall classes, which is weighing heavily on me. Unless something exciting happens, I will not update the blog until Monday.