Day 4: Independence Clinic

​Julia Tao
Today's clinic was initially going to be in Hopkins, but the location wasn't ready so we had clinic in Independence High School again. My team was assigned to medical education today. There were very few patients, so I mainly helped out at intake/vitals because there was more need there. We finished pretty early today, so everyone had lunch on the bus ride back to Placencia. Near sunset, the group went on a boat ride and was able to see bioluminescent plankton in the water.

​Jacqueline Duong
Because of cancellation of Hopkins, we were promised a short 3 hour clinic day. Today, Duke and I switched places and he was sterilizing while I was an assistant to Dr. Ta. Fun fact: Dr. Ta is my aunt and (incoming humble brag) we make a mean aunt-niece duo! We performed a handful of extractions on different types of patients (both adults and kids) and soon enough it was 12 o’clock! Thankfully, we got through all the patients, and the clean up was not too bad. It seemed like the longest part of the day was waiting for the bus driver Naeem to come back because he was so kind as to drive for about 4 hours in total to pick up our lunch from Hopkins! In summary, this day of clinic was much easier than the days before. We spent about an hour waiting at the clinic, but there was not a single dull moment. Most of the hour was spent with a combination of socializing and Dr. Wang “roasting” me. We were eventually reunited with the rest of the team and we made our way back to Placencia to enjoy the rest of our day. 
​That night there was to be a full moon, therefore we were blessed enough to be given the opportunity to go on a tour to see the bioluminescence with our local tour guide Lincoln. Our group was put on two different boats when we stopped by the Tao family’s new dormitory and then saw the bioluminescence in the water. It was such a special experience that most of the people visiting or living in Belize do not witness in their life, so I would say it was definitely worth all the mosquito bites!