So much happened today that I’m sure I’m going to leave out a lot. The internet connection is too shoddy here for me to upload all of my photos, so that will have to wait until I get home. I'll put a few on the page just so you all can get the gist of what I'm talking about.
Trevor and I got up early to head out with Diane to see her patients around the island. Diane is actually a registered nurse who did part of her training at the Mayo Clinic. She is very knowleadgeable about the medical conditions affecting the island and how to deal with them. Anyway, we all grabbed a quick bowl of oatmeal and then were on our way to circumvent the island. After seeing a plethora of patients, I’ll try to recollect what sticks out in my mind.
Rehabilitation clinic:
Children are lying on the floor; the room has a faint tinge of sorrow. Most of the kids have fairly severe physical handicaps. I'm also told that nearly all are mentally handicapped to some degree. I'm impressed by how hard the health workers are trying to give these kids a chance. I can tell that they are constantly frustrated but they continue their efforts. The room is not air-conditioned, and beads of sweat are evident on everyone’s face. A thick haze of humidity hangs about over the constant din of screams and cries. The toys and mat look very dirty, ants are crawling along some of them. As I start to sweat in the room I become uncomfortable and wonder how these people can stay here all day. The kids keep looking at me, in my few days here I've gotten accustomed to receiving stares everywhere I go.
I wish I could do something useful here, rather than just stare and marvel at their efforts to overcome their disabilities. A kid in a NBA jersey stumbles about, trying with every fiber to control his movements that are hindered by cerebral palsy. A young girl flails about, her joints contorted in unnatural positions. She is forced to wave goodbye sideways, unable to lift her arms vertically. An infant lies sprawled out on a pillow on the floor, wearing an expression of pain while his older sister hand feeds him pieces of bread. Another child cries with pain as her mother tries to manipulate her 'clubfeet'.
Rice Field House:
After traveling up a mountain for what seemed an eternity (the Jeep ride was rough, no shocks in that thing!), we disembark and trek through the jungle. After being nearly attacked by a giant pig we come to a wooden shack. Lying in the upstairs veranda is a young boy of 18 years bedridden with an unknown ailment. Large, infected bedsores cover portions of his lower body and slowly ooze pus. He is complete skin and bones, with severe edema in his feet and knees. Apparently he has been to the hospital in Cagayan, where he recieved an MRI and X-ray. Still no one knows what is wrong with him, and since his parents could not afford the hospital bills they had to take him home a few days ago. As he raises his rail-thin arm to push open his window overlooking the empty fields outside I can't believe that the health care system would leave this kid to die on a matter of insufficient pesos. At night we are told he lies awake because of pain in his pelvis. Looking there I can see huge contusions coming out of the skin, almost as if his hip were dislocated. After a few minutes we leave him and his parents alone again, I can't imagine him surviving for much longer in that shack.
Mountain Village shanties:
During the day we also saw several infants with cleft palettes and clubfeet. Such problems are readily addressed in the US, but here it’s quite an ordeal to remedy these things for the lower class folks. Doctors are for some reason often reluctant to perform the operations. Additionally, qualified surgeons rarely come over to this island, thus requiring that parents spend a significant amount of money to travel to the bigger islands. It’s just more needless suffering that stems from an inefficient infrastructure.
At the other end of the spectrum, we also got to see some really nice resorts. I was really excited about some of the scuba diving they have around here. A month in or so I'd like to check out the 'bay of giant clams', no further explanation needed. It's supposedly world class diving, albeit not for beginners.
At dinner we talked about a lot of the problems here in this country, especially the health care. It seems that the health training is adequate in most cases, and the essential problem is one of money. People can’t afford their drugs, they can’t take time off work to go to the hospital, etc. More on this later I'm sure.
-Steven Campbell
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