Day 1: Medical Brigade

Today our first day of medical brigade I was in the community called Tomatoya and was in pharmacy in the morning. That was really meticulous work, I would help my Korean friend Ochan from Wake-Forrest University do data entry. A lot of he people here in Nicaragua have high blood pressure and allergies so we were recording their information down in an Excel spreadsheet.  After lunch I sat in with one of the doctors in consultation and saw about 75 people (including children). Even though the doctor knew no English I still feel that I learned a lot! Just to give you an idea of what I saw a few of the people had eczema and the doctor would prescribe topical creams. Two of the people I saw had kidney infections and so antibiotics were prescribed, most everybody we saw has symptoms of bad stomach issues like amoebas and worms. We were able to prescribe medicine and vitamins for almost everyone and give them free medication, but for some like those with advanced kidney disease and pancreatic cancer we were unable to fill their prescription. There was one case that really broke my heart, this 19 month old baby couldn't keep any milk or liquid down because of an obstruction in his stomach to his intestines. He kept throwing up everything hat he ate. It was sad because he was crying the whole time and even when his mother would breastfeed him to quiet him down, he would only spit it back up minutes later. In this case the doctor recommended the mother to get a second opinion. It's sad to know that many of these families simply don't have enough money to pay for clean water. In fact coca cola is cheaper than water. Despite the large need today was great, I feel that primary care is something I really want to pursue. I would still like to pursue osteopathy because it includes a hybrid of MD and therapy/chiropractic care.