last day in Quito

We just returned frm shopping in Otovala. one of So America´s biggest markets. It was full of color, artists and great deals!!
Today is Adam´s birthday, so we´ll be going out for our last night together and try a little salsa dancing.

The week was a successs! So far only 1 PAP result is precancer and requires a biopsy. We have arranged to help a woman with a parotid tumor and assisted a bed bound man get to the hospital and care. We still have some numbers to crunch and details to review to summarize it all. A few students felt under the weather for no more than 24 hours and no serious illnesses.

smile you are on camera

Sean - a med student from Georgetown - who has been helping out with MEDLIFE- and I´d saying enjoying himself!
Let´s get this Van packed and call it a day! a GOOD day! (Adam, Maureen, Sam, David, Jessica, Terry)

Maureen making fun w-the kids!
nearest the Pepsi bottle, Mercedes our Ecuadorian Doctora that is helping us, Isabella standing, and Marcos our driver behind

So you want to be a doctora! Great! This is how you use a stethoscope!
Nick, flirting with the girls :)

Adam - AKA Farmacia King!
Matt and Steph applying their skills to entertaining children while Moms are examined!

´just hanging out with the kids´ - Sam

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUAN!!

Jessica (my right hand all week! - her interpretor skills are awesome)

Hello family, friends and supporters:
Sorry it´s been a while since I wrote, but getting to the internet is not as easy as previous trips.
It´s Thursday night - and we´ve been having a great mission. We are getting PAP results in 24 hours!! Immediate feedback of our work is so refreshing.
Last night Nick led a discussion on Structural Violence and Poverty. I´m always moved by the thoughts, compassion and drive of the students that attend these trips!
It was Juan´s 20th birthday yesterday - so we surprised him with a cake at lunch and a group went out last night with him!

pictures

Good brushing! Now Rinse and spit :) Pre-med student Kat
Now that´s a pretty smile ! Dartmouth Student Stephanie

Cotopaxi Volcano!

the group Monday morning!

We had a GREAT first day! Med Students doing their first after Gyn exams and OB exams.

Adios

Terry

June 17

QUITO June 17, 2007 10pm

The team is almost complete. We are waiting for one last student to arrive.
We are staying at a lovely hostal that the hospital Tierra Nueva is partnered with. A bland high cement wall with a steel gate doesn’t give hint to the oasis that lies behind. A beautiful central building that doubles as the cafeteria, meeting rooms and church overlooks 4 buildings that are the dormitories.

We are in a very poor section of the city, so we have not wondered outside the commune tonight. There is another group of students from the Timmy Foundation staying here as well. One of their leaders offered to show us around tomorrow evening, if time allows.

The students all come from varying degrees of experience. I hope that they will each leave this experience a little bit enlightened and challenged. As for me, it’s hard to believe this is my third trip to Ecuador in 13 months. I am hoping that I have been a better planner and packer this time. The last two missions, we fell short on supplies (especially medications) and needed to scramble at night to ‘restock’ from local vendors.

Leaving for Quito

Today I leave for Quito. I will meet Juan there, who has been busy arranging the upcoming week's mission. The "team",students from Dartmouth and NY, will be joining us tomorrow.
This week's mission is a bit different than the last few. We will stay in the Quito area and partner with Tierra Nueva, a local hospital for the indigenous people.
We have offered to help provide medical screenings in their outreach villages for a week. I will be seeing about 25 females a day for physicals and gynecological screenings, and we will have a second doctor (Lance Evans or an Ecuadorian physician that we subcontract) - and they will see an additional 30 patients (mostly children and men). We hope that this partnership will open opportunities for us to work side by side with Ecuadorian providers, and learn from each other- ways that we can grow MEDLIFE and meet our goals and their needs. They have offered their pathology lab to read our Pap smears, which will offer us quick turn around of results!

I have only met one of the students (other than Juan- President of UMAINE MEDLIFE) - so I am anxious to meet the rest of them. As I understand, some are pre-med and some are medical students - this should be a great mix. I hope to see Blanca, Martha and some of our other 'support' personel and friends. I would also hope to get caught up on how Maria ( our young, malnourished patient that was quite ill w/tuberculosis) is doing.

Well, I'm off to Boston to get a plan!

Adios
Terry