Clinic Days

I thought I would share pictures and information on the medical clinic that we had in North Africa. Hopefully this will give you an idea of how the clinic operated and our specific roles. Unfortunately, I have the least amount of pictures from this portion of the trip. Not intentionally! The people, especially the women, were very uncomfortable having their pictures taken. Most of them were dressed in multiple layers (like 6 or 7) with cloaks over their heads and faces. Some of the more conservative women had their hands covered as well. Most of the pictures I do have are of the least conservative of the population. Just keep it in your mind as you scroll through that these pictures aren't a totally true representation of the people we served! 

I also want to mention that we cannot reveal the exact place we did our work on the internet or in writing. I also cannot post photos of landscape or of anything else that could identify us at a certain place. This is to protect the missionaries that are serving in this place undercover. I have been really vague on these posts for that reason. If you want to here more details, just give Cole or me a call! 

The first week we held our clinic in a cultural center in a village at the base of the mountains. The patients waited in line outside until their number was called. First, they were seen by the triage staff. The nurses took their vital signs and obtained information on their chief complaint. 

This picture is a little blurry, but I love it! It was a great time to love on the kids!

Next, the patients were taken to a treatment room to see one of the doctors. Interestingly, many of the women would only see women doctors with women translators, so we had two separate rooms. It took us an entire day to figure this out, and decide that it was necessary to ask each women if they wanted to see a female doctor. Thank goodness we had them! We found this out because the women would come to the pharmacy and tell Molly or me about this problem that they had not been treated for. (We were female, of course, and we usually had a female translator so they were obviously comfortable telling us). Turns out, some of them had completely made up another story than what was really wrong to tell the doctor. This was common if they had any sort of "female problem" or anything involving showing their skin. Some of the women could not show their faces in the presence of men!

Treatment room

Next, the students took the patients from the doctor to the pharmacy waiting area and gave us a "prescription" for their medication. 

We filled the prescriptions and then used a translator to tell the patients how to take their medicine.

The second week was organized much like the first. We had clinic each day in what appeared to be an art center. I had the opportunity to triage for a few hours one day. This is a photo of myself, my translator, and our patient.

Next, the doctors. Cole worked alongside a doctor most days. He had a ton of practice using his interviewing and diagnostic skills!

See Cole back there?! I caught a snapshot of this lady dressed in the cultural attire. 

And then of course, the pharmacy was the patient's last stop. 

The physical therapy and occupational therapy teams worked really hard too! We brought and gave away tons of shoes, crutches, walkers, etc. They also made some really crafty things to aid disabled patients in their normal daily tasks. I don't have any pictures from their areas to show.