It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in SMA for 2.5 weeks – and that we only have 2.5 weeks left! The time has really been flying by. On Monday we joined the DIF at one of their mobile health clinics… which was very different from what we had expected. The clinic took place in Alonso Yanes, a town we had already visited twice. The mobile clinic itself was actually a doctor’s office on wheels, with one room for check-ins, and one examination room. There weren’t any doctors, but the nurses that accompanied the mobile clinic performed pap smears on the women in the community. We were told that we could shadow the nurses, and that “we” really meant just the girls – so Lauren and I got to see some ob/gyn in action. It turns out that the mobile clinic, while equipped with stirrups and speculums and swabs, was NOT equipped to measure weight, height, and blood pressure… so that’s where we were able to be of use. However, since this was the third time we had visited Alonso Yanes, a lot of our checks were on the same health-conscious folks who had attended our health fairs in the past, so it felt like a lot of déjà vu. Still, we had fun joining in with the ladies of the town as the DIF aerobics/dance instructor led everyone in a zumba/salsa-like session.
That afternoon, we met with Dr. Quiroz, who is responsible for bringing PPS to San Miguel from JR three years ago and getting the program up and running here. He was a fun and amiable guy, insisting that we try his tequila while discussing how our trip was going so far and what we had in mind for the remainder of our time in Mexico. It was great to finally get to know him after weeks (and months, really) of hearing about the great doctor who had been instrumental in providing us with this amazing summer experience. Hopefully we will get to see more of him in the next few weeks!
Today we visited a new town, Guanajuatito. We set up shop in the primary school and did a lot of vision screenings, followed by general health checks once the kindergarteners had vacated the premises for the day. We have come to notice that every time we think the day is winding down and we have checked all those that want to be checked – someone else will show up. This usually happens after we have taken down the eye chart – but sometimes it happens after we have literally packed up every single item into Jason’s gigantic backpack that only he knows how to arrange so that all of the elements of our “mobile lab” will fit. It is very hard to turn people away, and we usually end up unpacking again. The way someone always seems to arrive every time after others are long gone is pretty funny though. It is a little bit of an indicator of what our futures as doctors may hold – that line between when we can stow the stethoscopes and go home to friends, family, and situations that do not involve the “M.D.” after our names, and that desire to do our jobs well and be there for our patients, even if they might need us outside of normal office hours. Right now it is only a slight inconvenience (again, mostly for Jason, as he alone can repack the bag, although he is always a great sport about it) and we are only being detained from our typical afternoon activities of reading, yoga, studying, and siestas for a few minutes – but I hear that something of a difficult balancing act occurs later on (and something about inconveniences to having families?), so I guess I’ll keep you posted on how that pans out.
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