After arriving after dark last night and a having brief time of introduction to the rest of the team before bed, today was all about getting ready for the week. Lots of preparation required to help these days go off as smoothly and efficiently as possible. A handful of the team made their way to the warehouse to pick up equipment, supplies, food and medications that all needed to be sorted and prepped for the week. Once they returned, all hands were on deck forming the assembly line to get the goods off the truck and into rooms to be sorted.
A big group of us were manning the pharmaceuticals dividing up medications, vitamins, and creams into individual packets. With so many hands on the scene this year, it was amazing how quickly all of this was accomplished. By early afternoon everything had been divided and sorted into the appropriately labelled boxes, ready to be dispensed by the pharmacy team this week.
We then divided into teams to receive additional instructions on how the week is to proceed. Dr. Jack Cottrell is again leading the dental team. They had their hands full getting all the dental units and supplies sorted. The logistics for this team is significant as we have a our biggest dental team ever with 9 dentists!
Second year veteran Jane Fox was going full-steam sorting through all of the products we had to distribute. Men¹s clothes, women¹s clothes, children¹s clothes, toys, glasses, shoes, it all got organized! In addition to al of these needed items, there are boxes and boxes of food ready for distribution as well.
The medical team lead, Dr. Tony Brown, was hard at work with lead pharmacist Chris Ritskes figuring out what we had and how we are going put it all into action for the week. They met with the rest of the medical team to discuss the drug formulary, the use of the patient sheets, and how to use our new glucometers. For the second time this year, a few of our medical team members will be putting on a Continuing Medical Education lecture tomorrow for local doctors. They were busy finalizing their presentations and the schedule for the day.
It¹s all of the little details on prep days like these that really make our clinic days go off without a hitch. It certainly saves a tremendous amount of time as we venture out of San Salvador and into the community. This preparation, along with our tremendous young translators, contributes greatly to effective and successful days. Expecting many patients and hard work this week, and very rewarding times as well. We are excited and ready to get things going! Stay tuned…..
stories & pictures submitted by Kristen DeMarco, edited by Speroway
