Monday, the brigade opened at CMHH with patient visits in the morning and home visits in the afternoon. I was part of a multidisciplinary team that visited a patient who had a stroke several months ago. I had seen this patient before so I was able to debrief the team before seeing her. The team worked very well together and I think it was a huge help for the patient. The physician and PA were able to address her diabetic problems and wounds. The students, our OT, and I were able to address transfers, standing, and functional activities in the kitchen. This particular visit was discussed for a while that evening during reflection. The debate was about quantity of patients versus quality of care. If the brigade only sees home visits in teams, we would only get to about 5 patients a day per team, however the personal interactions and completeness of care is amazing. In the clinic however, the same 5 people working separately could see well over 30 patients, but the personal interaction and completeness of care may be lacking. I think this will be debated for a while.
Tuesday, we visited a Tsachilas village about 45 minutes from STO DOM. We were busy all day. There were several patterns that surfaced. For example, most of the women carry huge loads of work tools with straps around there foreheads, hence we saw a lot of neck and back pain. We also treated several cases of elbow pain caused by swinging machetes at work all day. The students saw a gentlemen who presented with low back pain, but had to be referred out secondary to a highly probable abdominal aortic aneurism. There were other patients with suspected hip and thoracic fractures whom we had to refer on. However, these patients were exceptions and I think we were able to help a lot of people. Perhaps the biggest need, from a PT perspective, is education on the way they carry tools. Easier said than done, right.
Wednesday, was another big day at Plan de Viviena. We were super busy this day. It was great to see the students gain confidence on the third day. Several of the patients were successfully seen by the students with minimal help and it was gratifying to see them use some of their Spanish. We had another good reflection Wednesday night but I will save my thoughts on this for tomorrow.
Thursday, the brigade set up a health fair at CMHH. We had groups of 15 patients go through several health stations throughout the day. The stations included things like getting access to clean water, diabetes prevention, and back pain prevention. We even had a Zumba station. We still treated some patients but the overall focus of the day was prevention and education. Another great day and turn out.
I have some other thoughts on the experiences of this week both from the patient perspective and a volunteer perspective. I will pick up here tomorrow.
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