From Cunugyacu to the Orient (Amazon rainforest)
Technology is not my friend!! I have the opposite of the magic touch
Death of a Laptop
Tuesday, our first day after getting back from Baños, we went straight to the office of Fundación Futuro to debrief Maria Alicia and Enrique on our successful trip and also get up to speed on the plans for the week. It was kind of sad though, because while we were off having a grand old time, Maria Alicia and QiQin each spent the weekend in bed with gripe (flu)! I was extremely excited to finally receive a Porta wireless internet connection for my computer, because that would mean that Andrea and I wouldn´t always have to borrow computers from others who still need them, and it also would give us wider internet access. However, this was an opportune time for the gods of irony to strike, because as soon as I had internet up and running on my laptop, my computer battery (which was already struggling) decided to completely shut down. My computer now can only stay on for 10-20 minutes at a time (plugged into the wall the whole time) and can barely handle the internet. This is a huge struggle for us because Andrea didn´t bring a computer, therefore we have both been depending on my sad excuse for a laptop, which is now basically out of commission. However, since we only have a handful of weeks left, we’ve decided to stick it out with my laptop in its current condition so I can focus on repair/replacement when I return to the US.
The portable orthodontics setup brought to Cunugyacu by the orthodontist seen here on the left
Brigada en la comunidad Cunugyacu
After freaking out over these last sad breaths of my laptop, we got up to speed on all of the events that Fundación Futuro was coordinating: the incoming arrival of Yvette and Stephen from Rice, the shipment of 24 lab-in-a-backpacks which are going to the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health, and the medical brigade plans for Wednesday. It seems like a lot is going to be happening in these last few weeks! On Wednesday we left crazy early in the morning, as usual, to go for a one day trip to Tungurahua for a medical brigade in the community of Cunugyacu. We stopped through in Ambato to join up with some doctors and nurses who were coming with us. We then passed through the community of Yatzaputzan to meet up with a few community health workers from the health center (Jambina Huasi) there. After we got our whole team together, we were 13 people in total, much more than the usual six we were used to working with! The craziest part was driving the (thankfully, short) distance between Yatzaputzan and Cunugyacu with 9 people in the tiny cabin of our little pickup truck. I´m still not sure how we managed that. The day proceeded from then on in a somewhat disorderly and frustrating fashion, and I´m not entirely sure why. It may have been due to the fact that there were so many of us working together but we didn´t really have a game plan going in, and we were trying to do too many things at the same time. Simultaneously we were running basic checkups, lab diagnostics, orthodontics exams and extractions, and Pap smears. Although we had 13 people working, only 3 of them were doctors so this probably caused part of the holdup.
I was also struggling a bit because some people wanted to do the 3 Pap smears in the same room as the rest of the exams, when it seemed like there were other rooms available that were more private. We ended up using 2 chalkboards as makeshift walls and balancing the metal stirrups on a small bench. It seemed to work out adequately, but it definitely did not appear to be the most comfortable situation for the patients, especially since a few people were needed just to hold up these makeshift walls during the exams to protect the privacy of the patients. The only reason I was frustrated with this setup was because we had better alternatives for Pap smear exam rooms and wider, more comfortable tables for the patients to sit on. In rural settings it´s definitely a ´make it work´ situation, but because I´ve personally invested so much time and effort into the gynecological pack, I want the patients to experience the most comfortable setup available. It reminds me of an example I read in our BTB manuals, explaining that Americans are unique because they tend to associate themselves very personally with their work. I have found that I am a perfect example of this, and I have to remind myself to chill out when people give me critiques or suggestions about the gynecological pack that I may not consider helpful or applicable. I have to remember that everyone is only trying to help out, but I can´t help but get frustrated when it seems like I´m not being understood, which could be due partially to the language barrier as well. Chuta!
Andrea, Stacey, and Maria Alicia demo the (amazing) gynecological pack and community health worker pack to representatives from the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health
Collaboration with the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health
Moving along: on Thursday we spent the whole morning in meetings with the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health, presenting the other two backpacks (gynecological and community health workers) to all of the bigwigs there. Although we made it clear that these were still first-run prototypes just in the testing stages, they seemed pretty interested in the projects and possibly even eager to request a few from Rice University in addition to the diagnostic laboratory packs that they were about to receive! We also spent a while talking with a couple of representatives about the possibility of tagging along with some of the doctors on a trip to the Amazon rainforest – therefore it would be an interesting medical brigade collaboration between Fundación Futuro and the Ministry, who usually do not have the same ideas about public health! It seems pretty likely that next week we´ll be spending a few days in the rainforest testing out all of our packs in a totally different climate and a completely different culture! Andrea and I are also excited to get a chance to go deep into the rainforest before we have to leave and go back to the United States.