Friday, June 3: The end is here

Our final day at Bethany! What a great 2 weeks it has been. The morning started off a little slow, since it was hard to get up, but morning prayers and breakfast happened as usual. Some nice idli and sambar and chai woke me up, then we were told we'd be going to visit a local school funded by the same base religious organization, Bethany.

We boarded the jeep headed over there, which was technically in Kerala, but was only a 10/15 minute drive. The school was for children with  broken homes aka drunk fathers/orphan children. It is a residential school, and it is  gorgeous. The work the teachers and staff do there is remarkable, and it totally mirrors the care seen at the medical center. The children were very cute, and they had a small assembly for "the students from America". There was a class of small 4 year olds who had just left their families to be at the school. The room was full of crying kids, and I don't think a bunch of foreign faces greeting them made it any better.

We only stayed there for a little while, then had to head back. Once back, I wrote some messages to the different people that made the experience so great, then packed up some stuff. I went down for a last outpatient clinic session, and Emily and I saw that there was a ultrasound specialist here to check out a bunch of patients. He was incredible. The man would go through each body part and section and just say yeah looks fine or no not fine so quickly! I had such a hard time keeping up. Emily, Sheniya, and I would trade off transcribing his words so that proper records could be kept. We saw a lot of pregnant women and mini fetuses which were cute. Also saw some gall stones, kidney stones, and lots of bladders. I don't know if this is completely true, but he said he has done quick ultrasounds of up to 1000 patients a day. That is unreal. He went on and on about ya not enough doctors for the population which was very true.

After an hour of frantic writing, we finished some packing and cleaned things up, then we went around saying our good byes. That was really hard. Everyone was so sad to see us leave, but we reasured to them how valuable they had been to us. Dr. Chakko even said, "don't think of me as a doctor, but more as a mother, or maybe for you a grandmother". Those were such nice words, and it made me think of my grandmas who are no longer here. She is truly an inspiration. Each person I met along this trip has given me motivation to be the best I can be, and whenever I think something's tough/sucks, I will always think about the daunting tasks they go through every day.

We marched up to Sheniya's place for lunch, where we saw an incredible lineup of food. It smelled delicious and tasted even better. Benny helped out too! We had some ice cream as well, then walked back out to finish handing out our cards. We saw Meena, who was super sad to see us go, and we had a little dance party in the in patient hallway haha. We saw the old man who'd been at the hospital the whole time (one of the first patients I saw) step out of his door to say bye. That was truly sweet. He was such a sweet old man and even though he couldn't speak English, we knew he was very genuine and nice. Finally, the nurse who had taken my survey print out ran into me, and handed me back survey responses from 6 women! I was in awe, since I just hadn't had the time or resources to get any responses at all. We strolled back to pack all our things then we said our final goodbyes, pictures, and left.  

We had the usual dosage of crazy Arun driving, and got to the airport. We paid Arun for our stay, then said our good-byes and went for security check. As we passed through I was stopped for having my reflex hammer in my backpack. He was confused about what it was for, and I tried telling him I was a "doctor"... It worked. Our group parted ways at this point, since Therese and Alex were headed to a different destination. This ended our educational vacation, and we were all so fortunate to have this opportunity to have this experience.

-Samir

Thursday, June 2

This morning was quiet; there were few patients to see and I had the feeling that this was the beginning of the end – we leave tomorrow afternoon. Dr. Clement chatted with us between patients. Of note, a man with a severely gangrenous foot was brought in by his family around tea time. You could smell it from Dr. Clement’s office across the hall from Casualty. The foot itself was totally eaten away; it was disfigured, some of the toes were black, and flies would not leave the festering wounds alone. The poor man had been brought in by his family some months ago, but the infection got worse and he is now confined to a wheelchair and overall does not look healthy for his age. Dr. Clement reminded us that the amputation must occur at the level of healthy tissue and bone, which often means removing more than you might expect. It continues to amaze me the injury that people will accept before they come or are brought to the hospital.

Around 2pm, we finished with Dr. Clement and had to leave for our second medical camp. This was much more successful than the first, as school is back in session as of June 1, so we were able to screen all of the children in town. After setting up, we saw patients straight from 3-6pm, first the school children and then the rest of the town, around 150 patients! We got some good practice taking blood pressure in a fast-paced and loud environment. Vickie was helping the pharmacy with drug hand out, Therese with taking body weight, Claudia directing operations, and the rest of us blood pressure and patient flow around the doctors. Dr. Muralidar arrived a little later, which had the effects of both speeding up the clinic and frustrating a lot of people who only wanted to see him. Dr. M has been in the area for more than 20 years and everyone knows him; however Dr. Clement has only been at Anaikatty for a few years.

When we got home, we were surprised to hear that the doctors were taking us out to dinner in Coimbatore. Dr. Muralidar’s favorite restaurant is a Chinese place where we had more rice and noodles and chicken than we could finish. It was delicious. Finally, after what turned out to be a long and exhausting day, we got home at midnight. Tomorrow we will visit the school over the border in Kerala that the Tribal Welfare Trust manages before we start the long journey home.

-Alex

Wednesday, June 1: Life in the In-Patient Wards

1 June: Life in the in-patient wards



The hospital portion of the medical center contains two large open wards, a male ward and

a female/pediatric ward. Each contains about 15-20 beds, of which anywhere from a

quarter to three-quarters are full at any given time. There are no curtains separating the

beds, so privacy is a minimum, as is room for visiting families. Family members can be in

the wards during the day, but only one is allowed to stay overnight (either in an empty bed

or on a blanket on the floor).

The wards aren't air conditioned, so get quite warm during the day. Patients (and their

families) are expected to provide their own food, clothing, and additional blankets

throughout their stay. There aren't any TVs or other sources of entertainment besides fellow

patients. Privacy, due to the nature of the open wards, is minimal; occasionally curtain

dividers will be put up to protect a particularly vulnerable patients, and there are a few

actual singe-patient rooms (as well as a 2-bed isolation ward). Bathrooms are also

communal. For the most part, patients spend their days in bed or, if they're well enough,

taking short walks around the medical center. Several nurses at a time take care of the

patients, distributing medications, carrying out doctors' orders from rounds, and setting up

newly-admitted patients.

The medical center also has a small ICU, used mostly for patients who need machine-

monitoring (the regular in-patient wards are notably machine-free) or who come in with acute

conditions in the middle of the night.

Although the medical center has a X-Ray machine and a basic lab, any patients who need

more advanced imaging or lab testing need to go to Coimbatore, the large city in the region

about an hour away that has more complex medical facilities. However, because Bethany

has limited internet and computer access, meaning that everything has to be hand-

delivered.

Besides all the usual excitement today, Arun, the Bethany manager/logistics master

extraordinaire, invited us over to his house for tea. He, his wife, and two adorable kids live

in an apartment in the medical center that overlooks the hills behind the clinic. Apparently,

the elephant that made an appearance at he center just a week before we arrived walked

right through their backyard! We spent a lovely couple of hours playing with the kids, talking

with Arun and his view, and learning how to make authentic Indian chai tea. (The secret is

extra cardamom!) The hospitality and welcome we've received from everyone in India,

particularly at Bethany, is overwhelming. I wasn't expecting to feel as much a part of the

family as I feel now, after less than 2 short weeks. We've received and learned much more

from this experience than we can ever hope to repay.

-Emily