Day 2: Golden Stream Clinic

​Julia Tao
Everyone got on the bus at 7 to go to the Golden Stream clinic. My group did intake today and had a bit of trouble with the blood glucose monitors but figured it out after a few tries. There were a lot of people who requested blood sugar checks and most of them were high. One was so high that the glucose monitor only said “HI” which meant it was >600. A lot of people at this clinic left before getting their medicine. After the clinic, the group went to the Spice Farm for a tour.

​Jacqueline Duong
We had a relatively early morning when we had to meet at the bus at 7am to get to Golden Stream where we would have our first clinic of the week to serve the Q’eqchi Mayans. According to my personal understanding and background information from Dr. Mary Tao, this group of people rarely see doctors and do not even have clean water sources to drink from. Their average life expectancy was 44 years old and because of the consumption of contaminated water, there were to be many cases of parasites. The ABC Fairmont team raised money with bake sales throughout the school year to buy water filters for each family in the village.
​Because today was the first day of clinics, setup was incredibly chaotic. Everyone was running around trying to carry and unpack boxes while simultaneously asking Julia hundreds of questions. Looking back at it, it seems like a miracle, but eventually we were able to calm down and finally able to get the clinic going. 
My team was in charge of vitals and intake today and although there were not too many patients initially, we already saw a great deal of unorganization. Not many of the students were 100 percent comfortable using the manual sphygmomanometer for blood pressure, but we only had one electronic cuff. In addition, initially we were unable to figure out the glucometer (to measure blood glucose) because we needed a code. Like with almost all of our problems, Julia was able to figure the glucometer out and everything began to run smoothly. Dr. Tao brought some additional students from the patient education station to the vitals and intake station, and though the additional assistance was somewhat relieving, the station began to get overcrowded with students. A couple students like Ryan Tao and Kenneth Yang began to sit outside in the waiting area and fill out medical history for patients so that the students doing vitals only had to worry about the vitals and not asking all of the questions. 
To my understanding, our Ob/ Gyn Dr. Liu was teaching a couple women from the village how to become midwives because the nearest hospital was hours away. Although I was unable to witness the actual teaching of the process, I believe it was extremely successful in being the initial stepping stone to integrating modern medicine into this Mayan village in order to better their quality of life. 
Because of the enthusiasm of my team and the additional helpers in vitals and intake, I had some time to walk around and take pictures of the clinic as well as interact with some of the younger patients. I went to the gift station where all the young children were and I was able to gather up a small crowd and read a book to them. It was such an incredibly rewarding experience, as I tried to read with as much emotion and energy as possible so that they would stay engaged, although I had lost most of my voice. I kept reading though I felt some physical pain in my throat because I realized that it is a blessing and an honor to be reading in front of a crowd of engaged students (most of which were young girls) who seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. I remember the book I read to them was about an elephant who got stuck in a hole somewhere in the forest, and in order to get out, he needed the intelligence, strength, and cooperation of a plethora of his animal friends. After reading this book to them, I saw an opportunity to apply this story to their lives, in hopes of inspiring them. Upon asking some of the girls, one liked to read, another to draw, and the other to color. When I heard that I was elated, it seemed like this was a match made in heaven. I remember telling the girls that it’s so special that they had passion and interest for different things, and that if they came together like all the animals in the book, they could do something really special, for example, they could write and illustrate their own book together! 
After a little bit of back and forth conversations, I was feeling genuinely inspired as I headed out with Dr. Zhang and a few other students to attend a house call. 
As we arrived at the house, I realized we would be visiting the wife of a man that I had done vitals and intake for earlier in the day who was surprisingly around 90 years old. His wife was 85 and both of them spoke the native Q’eqchi Mayan language. We had a translator there and Dr. Zhang evaluated that she had arthritis. This elderly patient lived in a house with no beds, and she spent the entirety of her day on a hammock, therefore, she had a lot back pain and was unable to walk on her own. Furthermore, she was unable to see, and luckily, we were able to give her a pair of reading glasses. After completing her checkup, I was able to say a quick prayer over her, and as I began to pray aloud, her husband and her granddaughter began to pray for her as well. The patient began to tear up as she was both able to see words on a page for the first time in a long time as well as hear the prayers of her loved ones. As we were getting ready to leave, I also noticed her husband was getting emotional, and I left with a unique feeling in my heart. It was then I realized the great ability and power that our ABC team had - we had the supplies and knowledge to help people, but we are so blessed to live in a world where we know what love feels like, so every opportunity we get to spread the love must be taken advantage of.
After coming back from the house calls, I did a little more reading and even hosted a coloring contest for the kids (the winners received a pair of sunglasses). I continued to help out my group at the vitals and intake so that they could have a lunch break, but because the clinic day was not overwhelmingly busy, we were not overly tired. 
After cleaning up, we went on a tour at the Spice Farm and then headed home to eat dinner and refresh for the next day.