U.S.M. Med Mission - treatin' everything from Vaginal Flujo to Nutrition

Can you hear me?

Peace Corps volunteers have boasted about Med Missions in the past, but I could never have foreseen the impact it would have on me.
For the last two weeks the University of Southern Maine made quite a presence in Lajas, Santiago. Nursing students, Sports Med students, R.N.’s, N.P.’s and M.D.’s all held clinics in about 15 different communities surrounding Lajas, a campo in the Northern region of the country. They even hiked to Los Hobos, a community that would otherwise be bypassed because there are not roads to get there.
I am not going to get all sappy on you about how we cured the sick and saved lives (although we did help a few out), but I will mention a few instances that touched my sarcastic nature and made a little dent in my soft heart.
In the beginning, I was slightly skeptical about how 60 Americans were going to handle the Dominican campo for 12 days, let alone interact with hundreds of sick patients. There was the expected…. Gringos taking pictures of the lush green landscapes, the millions of kids around every corner and all the roosters perched on random fences. I arrogantly observed as my own culture oggled and ogled at poverty and took the very same pictures that I once took three weeks in country. All the nursing students were wide-eyed and ready to heal.
Initially, I couldn’t help but silently giggle at their invincible, gung ho attitude having an inside at what they were up against. I just kept thinking about how the patients were not going to be able to articulate what they were struggling with and that they just lacked the health education they needed and therefore all dealt with high blood pressure and diabetes. I thought the cure all would just be sleep, H20, eating less salt, sugar and grease and not putting vapor rub on everything and bathing with clean water. This is at least what I constantly want to tell people in my campo when they complain of any health issues.
Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of patients who could use this advice, but there were also plenty others who needed actual medical attention.
We were able to give some people who suffered from asthma an inhaler. On one of the home visits we tended to a pressure sore that could have gotten infected and led to who knows what. We gave glasses to people who were near sighted. Sports Med gave one guy a brace for his knee that had been bothering him for years. We also gave patients with anemia, vitamins with iron. The nurses were able to see and treat patients who could not afford to go to the doctor. They filled prescriptions for medications that patients would not otherwise be able to afford. It wasn’t just the common cold with aches and pains that were being treated. This U.S.M. connection has been and continues to be many Dominicans Primary Care Physicians. The patients were one thing, but the U.S.M. Nursing Students, Sports Med Students, RN's, NP’s and Doctors brought more to the table than a quick fix. More than their medical assistance, I couldn’t help but be so grateful for how kind they were to everyone they saw. I was taken by their sincerity with a group of people I am constantly arguing with about values, their commitment to church, lack of educational discipline and gender roles.
I was reminded of what I am doing in this country. Peace Corps volunteers are not here because everyone in the country is doing fine and are all progressive activists. We are here to improve already existing positive projects and start new ones that will benefit greater communities. It was an honor to be part of the U.S.M. Med Mission and contribute in such a practical, tangible capacity. I “interpreted” from Spanish to English and English to Spanish and Dominican to English and English to Dominican. I enabled communication so that patients could be treated properly and it felt pretty good to have a skill that was so immediately and directly useful.