Medical Clinics

I (Don) always have a hard time posting on the medical clinics. It is hard to stop and ask someone if I can take their picture when there is a long line of people that don't feel well. This last week, I respectfully tried to take a few pictures.

Adonai holds three medical clinics every week. The most physicially isolated of the clinics lies in the mountains between San Andreas and Canilla. Chiminisijuan is a very remote very poor village. This picture is of the 'road' leading to the clinic. During the dry season it is rough, during the wet season, it is often impassable. Here is a picture of a bridge over a drainage ditch.

 

Here is a picture of Armando preaching before clinic starts. The sermon is given in Quiche, the local Mayan language.

 

We often find ourselves without the proper equipment, medicine, etc. This little boy has a broken collar bone. Dr Malachi is rigging up a sling for him. Malachi Courtney is a second year Med-Peds resident. He is very smart and a lot of fun to be around. I very much enjoyed getting to work with him. While is Guatemala, he also shared his time with Dr Pope in Chichi.

 

Here is a picture of Malachi holding a little guy after he examined him. The patient population is mostly women and children, lots of prenatal exams. The patients are very poor and often uneducated. There is a mix of simple intervention to very sick, very complicated patients.

 

Our time seems to have gone very fast. I only have five more clinic days left. I always enjoy my time working with the Guatemalan people. There is so much need and there are times when I feel so inadequate, yet the people are so thankful for any help that we can give them even if all we can offer is prayer.