Phew – where has the week gone? We have been busy, busy, busy here in SMA and have had two record-setting days in terms of attendance at our health fairs. On Monday and Tuesday, we had the pleasure of Dr. Ashkin’s company and all of his great medical knowledge and doctoring skills. The people in the communities that came to the health fairs had many of their questions answered and concerns addressed, and we learned a lot from him, too. We went on a whirlwind shopping trip with him and Dr. Clark on Monday afternoon – and these two were experienced SMA shoppers, so we hit a lot of nice stores. They are both so much fun to be around, and are great teachers and wonderful doctors. The theme of fun with great doctors continued when we (the four med students, plus Alex and Kelly, all squished in Alex’s little car) met up with Dr. Ashkin and Dr. Quiroz for dinner. The restaurant (“Hecho en México”) was fabulous, and the conversation – a mix of Spanish, English, and medical jargon in both languages – even better. Since everyone was all dolled up already, we went ahead and took a “family photo” of our group to add to the table sporting the picture of the SMA group from UNC last year. We have had to improvise a lot on this trip, and these perfected skills came into play when we cleverly wrapped our framed picture in newspaper and “ribbon” from a colorful department store bag – but Kelly and Alex loved it.
On Tuesday, we returned to the middle school (la secundaria) in one of the towns we had visited last week. We ended up screening and counseling over 60 kids. Out of all those kids, only two were identified as needing glasses, which was pretty incredible. Dr. Ashkin was even kind enough to check out a few of the hypochondriac and miscellaneous medical complaints and concerns that first year medical students are bound to have - a few external ear infections, and Jason's longstanding concern about his inability to pop his ears.
Today was busy as well. Dr. Newman joined us and was a real help in providing counseling and addressing questions out in the community. We got through over 50 people for general screening, as well as a bajillion kids (okay, so not quite that many, but it felt like a lot) for the vision screenings. We collected data for our studies, too. It was nonstop action, with all hands on deck (including Rafa, of course) but we got a lot accomplished and Dr. Newman had a lot of great advice for counseling the people in the communities. While we feel like we have gotten our health fairs down pat now, having the insight of the doctors who have come to help us has been important in continuing to improve our work.
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