El Hogar en Anta

Today was some organizing in the morning. We met with Mayor Guido about future directions in the clinic (see the write-up below), and planned the next few days. Tomorrow, the town of Pampallacta, a health fair, with en emphasis on womens health. Friday, half day in the clinic, and a cultural break to visit Pisac's festival of the Virgen del Carmen. Monday we return to Pampallacta to work with the children, specifically. Tuesday we go with Yanette to another region to work in Matinga. Wednesday is the last day in clinic, and then everyone leaves for the US.

Alida was great enough to write up some of our big discussions as to where this project should go next year. Here is an excerpt:
As you may have expected with our actually being and working here in person, seeing the communities first hand has led to an evolution of our ideas and perspectives on the needs of the communities here. The biggest unmet medical need that we have been seeing continuously day in and day out is a combination of women's health needs and domestic violence. Together with the Mayor of the town and the clinic in which we have been working, and with the indispensable help and guidance of Dr Falcone, we have begun to plan a women's health clinic and domestic violence shelter. Currently there is no shelter that allows women to stay with their children in the entire region, there may be one in Lima, but we are unsure of even this. The idea we are developing is to use a part of the clinic building that was built for women's health issues, but is currently not being used. The women would come in to get women;s health care, such as PAP smears, birth control, counseling education etc. If it comes up that there are domestic violence issues (as we have seen in patient after patient here as the root of many presenting chief complaints) the women would then have the option of being admitted into the shelter. A rehab program for alcoholism and education program is being developed in the community currently by the mayor and this, we believe, would be a perfect compliment and addition to the effort. The center would be staffed by local health care workers, a social worker and a nurse, and we are planning to write grant proposals to support a health professional student working at the center for a semester each term. Along side of this project we will continue to run the July rotation for the CCF and CWRU students who would like work in the medical clinic as an elective clinical rotation. We are also planning to write a grant to support the project itself, but this will be to supplement to the money provided by the government.

Well written, Alida. Thats just one of our many exciting schemes... theyll come out one by one, dont worry. Poco a poco.

Now back to today. In the afternoon after lunch with Lucia and finishing our patients, we drove through the most fantastic countryside up above the glacial peaks through golden cornfields, past surprising mirror lakes, to an isolated little city where we visited the orphanage that Peruvian Hearts supports. It was lovely and the girls were of course adorable and vivacious and each unique and different. We gave check-ups, socialized with the children, and all around enjoyed yet another interesting experience of being welcomed into a Peruvian community.