RiverCyrique (Jan 31st/2013)

It is Thursday and our second week in Dominica which means today would be our last clinic day :(.  Time has actually flown by so quickly on this island that it's actually really saddening thinking about leaving.  Our group was split into two for today, 5 of which went to the House of Hope and the rest of us to the clinic in Rivercyrique.  Today was an especially exciting day for us because although we really enjoyed our time at the LaPlain clinic the past 3 times, we were eager to experience a new clinic and learn even more about the workings of the healthcare system in Dominica.  It was about a half an hour drive to the clinic and upon arrival, all of us got down from the vehicle eagerly waiting to talk to our patients and have them teach us as much or even more that we can offer them.
 
The clinic was smaller than the one at LaPlain with fewer patients, 5 specifically due to the lack of a doctor or a pharmacist but considering there was 5 of us and 5 patients to talk to, we were more than happy to spend time with the patients.  The most amazing thing for me when talking to the patients is the difference in their mindset compared to patients in North America.  It's very difficult to explain, until you observe it yourself because some things are better understood with experience alone.  With their many disease states and hardships in life they still manage to have a smile on their face, do not complain and are always grateful and enjoy our company. 

After we all had a chance to talk to our patients, understand their disease states better and make our recommendations the nurse on duty offered to let us accompany her on a couple of house visits to patients who were either bed bound or too incapacitated to make it to the clinic.  Again, we were all very excited as this would allow us to see a different side of Dominican culture, specifically the caring, tight knit community side.  We walked for a bit and arrived at our first patient's home, he was a young male suffering from epilepsy.  Due to his severe epilepsy he was unable to communicate as much except for the basic yes and no.  The thing that touched me the most from this visit was how close knit the community was and how this patient's extended family was looking after him, specifically his cousins. 

The next patient that we visited was an elderly 91 year old female who was blind and bed bound.  The warmth that we felt from this patient's family when we entered was actually unimaginable.  Despite all their hardships, they were very excited to meet with us, strike conversations with us and welcome us into their home.  Experiences like this definitely stay with you for a lifetime, and I highly recommend everyone experience trips like this at least once.  It completely changes your perspective on life and hopefully makes you think.

Pearl