Belén Clinic Day

Today was our first day of clinic in the town of Belén. We met around 8am and took the motocarros to the clinic where there were already people lined up and waiting. We had a bunch of tables set up and split into around five treatment teams to see the patients. I was with Bob, the team leader, and Caitlin, and our translated was Jose Luis. Throughout the day we saw a ton of patients, 217 in all (by all the teams). There's even a dental station where they can do cleanings and extractions and fillings. We mostly saw a lot of people with body and/or low back pain, viral URIs, dehydration, and people wanting treatment for parasites. We also diagnosed Giardia (apparently there was a study done by Penn State and ~40% of this town has Giardia, which in unsurprising as there is open sewage and trash everywhere), saw some UTIs, and diagnosed a new case of TB, which was confirmed on AFB stain, so I think I may get a new TB test soon. At least he wasn't coughing! Overall clinic was good and we had another delicious lunch as a break around 1PM with fish today. 

The Belén clinic

Belén

Belen near the clinic

After clinic we went back to the office and did the stats for the day, which took some time, but wasn't that bad. We then he a short break at the hotel before meeting at the office for Caitlin's presentation on snake bites and scorpion stings. We were hoping they would say we didn't see them much, but on the contrary they said you have to shake your things out cause there are often scorpions, and one of the snakes is fairly aggressive. Ugh. A little nervous now, but I'm sure it will all be fine!

After the presentation we went to Dawn on the Amazon for dinner and I had a Peruvian dish with potato, quinoa, avocado, chicken, and probably a few other things I'm forgetting. It was really yummy and not too expensive. We then went back to the hotel and now it's time for bed. Our second clinic is tomorrow in a town on the other end of Iquitos. 

Also, as a side note, the Internet connection is pretty bad here, so posting pictures is nearly impossible until I get back to Lima late on the 20th. Sorry!