Energized by anticipation, the group made their way to the village of Vuelta Grande, a small village in the mountain outside of Antigua. Supplies had been delivered the previous day so when the team arrived they launched immediately into setting up the dental and medical clinics in the village’s school house.
But just as boxes were being unpacked and the portable dental chairs assembled, a problem began to arise.
“The first report I got was the teacher told me the lights didn’t work,” said Walter Want, one of the leaders for the electrical team.
Walter and Orvin Erickson began working on the lights in the classroom and soon realized the problem was far more complex than simply lights not working.The electrical team has spent time working in Vuelta Grande before, and late last year wired both the school and the near-by community center for power. As it happened, the wiring went from the town’s major power source directly to the community center and then over to the school; the wiring connecting the community center to the school was buried in a trench that the team enlisted the help of locals to dig.
“We had about a dozen guys, thirteen, who did it in two hours,” recalled LeRoy Benham.
But in the time since the electrical team’s visit in November and the present, a second school building began construction in the space between the community center and the present school building.
That’s where things went wrong.
Somewhere in the construction of the new building, the line got
severed at two ends – up by the community center and down the hill by the school. The line in the trench had been pulled out of its protective tubing and simply strung across the new building; the ends were crudely reconnected, twisted together and covered with small bits of a plastic bag.The exposed ends and rudimentary patches spelled big trouble in the school house, where the voltage was irregular and wildly out of range for the dental team’s instruments. Left without power for the lamps, the suction equipment or the sterilization instrument, there was little the dentist’s could do.
Down the hall the medical team’s work was less interrupted by the electrical problem. Dr. Jan Paquette’s lighted scope for viewing into eyes and ears and noses was without juice, but the impact was minimal and the clinic saw a steady stream of patients.
One of Dr. Jan’s objectives with the medical clinic this
year was to screen all dental patients, before their procedures, for heart problems. Individuals with heart problems are prone to infections of the heart valves when bacteria enters their bloodstream during dental procedures; the infection can be fatal, so heart patients typically take an antibiotic before visiting the dentist.Dr. Jan’s screening process was as simple as listening to the patient’s heart for any sounds of a murmur, or a “swishing” sound in the heart-beat. Murmurs may be totally benign or they may indicate more serious problems. And in Vuelta Grande, Dr. Jan found them in over half a dozen patients she examined.
Most cases were fairly mild, Dr. Jan said, but there was one that was “really big. I’m kind-of concerned.” This young patient was referred to a cardiologist for further examination.
Once screened the patients had a small heart drawn on their hand and were sent over to the dentists who, by two o’clock, had gotten antsy.
Despite having no power, Dr. Allen Methven and Dr. Jim Ransom decided to go ahead and see what they could do.
The first patient was a 60-year-old man. With Mike Caruso and Kyle Hoffer pointing flashlights into his mouth, Dr. Allen and Dr. Jim extracted seven teeth. Dr. Jim pulled out six, and Dr. Allen reached in and pulled one out with his fingers. From then out the dentists kept a tally of their extractions, and when the day was over they’d pulled nearly thirty teeth between them.Finding they could manage extractions, the dental clinic quickly jumped into gear with patients following in quick succession. The fourth patient was also the first child of the day.
“He looks so happy,” observed Kyle.
“Remember that,” responded Dr. Allen and Dr. Jim in unison.
The boy’s cheerful expression gave way to whimpers as the dentists dug in, and his whimpers subsided just as a rain began to fall outside. The room was filled with the cacophony of the rain on the tin roof and the air became thick with the moisture, but the rain passes as quickly as it came, just as the room fills with the sound of the little boy’s cries.
The dentists moved quickly and soon the boy was on his way, clutching his toy-bag reward.
By then the day was nearly over and the team packed up. Despite the group’s dedication to helping the people of Vuelta Grande and the community’s warm reception, there remains an underlying mistrust of the villagers – particularly after an incident last year wherein someone apparently snuck into the dental clinic one night and stole some of the soccer balls the team had brought to hand out to courageous patients. The equipment is locked in the classroom and two security guards are hired to stay the night at the school.
The electrical problem remains an issue; neither the dental team nor the electrical team was able to make the progress they’d anticipated. Yet the team has two more days in Vuelta Grande before moving on to El Hato and remains optimistic.
In the words of project leader Mike Caruso, “This is kind-of a third-world first day.”
No comments:
Post a Comment