Visit to Local Clinic in Otuzco

Today I traveled from Trujillo to Otuzco to see the other volunteers in the program. Otuzco is about 1hr 15min outside of Trujillo and is located in the Andes Mountains. The town is 6000ft above sea level so you can imagine the decreased temperature and oxygen levels. The drive itself was an adventure because even though we asked him to drive slowly he flew the whole time, weaving in and out of oncoming traffic, but he eventually got us there safely. When we arrived it became apparent that this was indeed a very rural, poverty-stricken community. Although there is a strong lack of modernization, I think the town and its surroundings are quite beautiful.

My clinical experience today blew my first two days at Hospital Lazarte in Trujillo out of the water! I began volunteering at the maternity hospital in Otuzco, Elpidio Berovides Perez, with three other volunteers, Mirtha, Ian, and Ryan at about 10:00am and finished at about 12:15pm. These two hours were jam-packed with interesting patients. After a couple of common cold symptomatic patients, a 17 year-old patient came in with some type of infectious growth in her ear canal. After cleaning it with iodine and administering Novocain locally, Ryan was given permission to cut it open using a scalpel in order to remove any pus. No stitches were necessary. Mirtha and I then proceeded to clean the hand of another patient whom had nearly completely severed off his thumb and pinky fingers three days before in a work-related accident. A different female patient was then prescribed rabies medication after she entered the clinic covered in cat bites all along her arms and legs. The most interesting part of the morning was when we got to witness a live birth. We were led into a small room where we witnessed a mother give birth to her 5^th child. She was only in labor for about 10 minutes and gave birth to a healthy 4Kg boy on Christmas Eve. It was amazing. During my amazement I was shocked when the doctor told me to take out my camera so that I could take pictures as she went into labor. I have posted pics of the baby but the more graphic pictures will be for only close friends and family since they may be inappropriate to post in this blog. Needless to say, this was the hands-on type of experience I was looking for in Peru.