More Medical

People came and waited on benches made of planks we had used for concrete forms and concrete blocks until they could register. Then they waited inside on benches made of planks and concrete blocks to be weighed, measured, and blood pressured. Then to another bench to wait for Dr. Bob or Nurse Dale. Today I was pharmacist. It was very different from pouring concrete. We improvised a lot to have enough pill containers and bottles for liquid Tylenol. I learned how to write "Dos vez al dia" and other useful pharmacist stuff. There was no point in labeling medicine for Mayans who don't speak English because Mayan isn't really written in any consistent way. I also had to tell many people "manana" for things we had run out of. Because the room had concrete floor, walls, and ceiling, it was very noisy. Typical pediatric office noises multiplied to cacophony. During the slow times I circulated and tried to distract the little children from the torment of waiting by talking to them if they were old enough and spoke English or just making faces at them. Great fun. The response was incredible and almost overwhelming. The volunteer translators, including a Peace Corps volunteer, were indispensable. One of my outstanding memories was of an old man who was just beaming as he left with his bag of antibiotic capsules.

Chuck