Our first day of work

Today we set up our first clinic of this trip, up in the Andes. The views of Mountains were awesome. We were greeted by a very small crowd on arrival to the site, but quickly we had lines of villagers wanting to see the doctor or the dentist.

Hank, our dentist, was busy all day. He pulled a lot of teeth. He wished he could have done restorative work on many more. The students put a lot of energy and enthusiasm into teaching proper teeth brushing techniques, and applying slouride treatments.

I saw a wide variety of patients aged from just a few months to probably late 40´s. We found a young boy with a very loud systolic heart murmur. We met with his family at their home after clinic hours, and am working on arranging an Echocardiogram to better evaluate his needs. There was a small boy with a skin condition from birth that made his skin peel and hurt. I´m still not certain what it was, but I took pictures and hope to learn more from a Dermatologist friend of mine upon return to the states. Fortunately that young boy is already tied into medical care. There was also an older women with several weeks of right lower quadrant abdominal pain, worsening in the recent days. Exam was consistent with a smoldering appendix or ovarian cause. We took her back to Riombamba with us to have a surgeon evaluate her.

Will add more pictures later, having trouble with the internet. I´ll also be sure to give you details of the name of the village and mountain we were at today - with my next posting.

Adios
Terry