Day 3: Independence Polyclinic

Julia Tao
The ABC group took a boat and then drove to the Independence Polyclinic. We started seeing patients at 9:00 AM. Each student followed a specific doctor, taking doctor orders and observing their actions. Many patients who came in had rashes from the heat, and the students were able to watch a fractured arm being set in a cast. We ended at 3:00 PM, and took a taxi and the boat to get back to Sunset Pointe.

Dr. Zhang-Cheng
​Today we took a boat to a nearby town called Independence. There is a small clinic called Independence Polyclinic where we have seen more patients than yesterday. The patient population was mostly indigenous people from Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. They mostly spoke Spanish. We saw pregnant women, children with rash and fever, and young people with different ailment. There was a 30 year old young man just suffered from a stroke. He never had rehab because the nearest hospital was 5 hrs away. Because the clinic is set up for procedures, we also performed wound stitches, nail removal, and plasters for a fracture arm. It was very busy and we started to feel heat exhaustion. The mangrove islands were beautiful and undeveloped.