Day 4

So today was Wednesday, and for everyone who was unaware…today was Inaguaration Day in Honduras.  The new President was put in place at noon.  For this reason, we had to stay in the city due to the likelihood of riots in the streets. We were not intimidated although a police officer did watch us especially closely at the gas station while holding his very intimidating gun…Dr. McAdams handled the situation with such grace…

This morning was especially great for two reasons.  One…we had a true Honduran breakfast (called baleadas) and two…Mandie led the devotion.  I must say that between her excitement over the food and her beautiful devotion, the morning began full of joy and excitement.

We were stationed today for the second time in the neighborhood of Flor de Campo.  This is where Mandie lived for the 7 months she was in Honduras, and where the first two buildings of the Lamb Institute are located.  We set up clinic at 9, and were quickly flooded with people.  As today was a national holiday, no one had to work.  Therefore, a line began outside the gates sometime before 5 this morning.  It was difficult to turn people away, but we knew that we had to focus on those we could help in the time that we were blessed to be there.

Aside from several high blood pressures, we did have one fairly exciting case.  As Mandie and I were triaging (which as a side note…we have now triaged 600 people in four days)…an elderly man sat down ready for his turn.  As we were going about our duties, we came upon an interesting discovery…his pulse was 37 and had no audible heart beat through the stethoscope.  This basically meant that he was going to have a heart attack any minute.  We immediately took him to the doctor, bypassing the wait, and he was urgently sent to the hospital.  Unfortunately, the hospital told him they did not have time to see him, and he returned less than 3 hours later.  The hospital had offered to admit him on the spot, but he knew his wife had no one to take care of her, so he came back to Flor del Campo.

We saw several sets of twins, colored over 100 pictures of Winnie the Pooh, and took over 200 pictures.  We returned around 6:30, ate dinner, had a group meeting, and restocked the trunks.  The pharmacy was completely wiped out today, so much was to be done.

It was a wonderful day and resulted in seeing over 200 patients.  What a blessing and joy it is to be here! 

I did call home tonight.  The funny part was that the first thing my mom asked me was…”Courtney, just warn me…are you bringing a child home?” Haha J

The LAMB Institute, where our Monday and Wednesday clinics were held...

Courtney with a little patient at the end of the day...

Me with Melanie and Isahi, the children of LAMB's resident psychologist, Arely. She was a great encourager for me when I lived here and I was incredibly excited to get to meet the grown-up Melanie and new baby Isahi this trip...