First day of placement!

Internet was down in the city last night so I am posting today!

7-14-09
Today was my first day at my placement! You hear a lot from the older volunteers about how most of it is just sitting and observing but the girl I am with at Santa Elena (she is also an intern with CCS) and I actually did quite a lot today! I took blood pressures of all of the patients that came through today and its weird how low their blood pressures are. The doctor at the clinic actually left us to do most of the work ourselves. Stray dogs walk around the hospital in the halls which give you an idea of how clean the conditions are at the clinic. We get to wear these awesome white lab coats and name tags,.
Kasey ( the other girl at my placement) and I have a great system going for us. She takes weight or pela I think its called in Spanish and I take blood pressure, then we take turns doing heart rate. She is helping me with my Spanish and I am teaching her how to use the BP cuff. Oh and the reason why the BP’s are so low is mostly due to the altitude and the weather right now because it is their winter. They are about 100/80 ish… muy bajo. Sorry about some of the Spanish, I am trying to absorb as much as I can because it is easier to do more if you can talk to the doctors. It’s all about taking initiative and the more Spanish I can learn the more I can hope to do. Kasey has been very patient with me and so have the doctors. I might get to give shots soon! One guy even asked today if I was Japanese… which was weird. I have never been asked in my life what my ethnicity is, but I guess since we are like unicorns in a herd of horses my “asian” features stick out a lot more than if I was in Europe or another American city,
I might go to the obstetrician’s office on Thursday because some of the girls also working in a clinic in their first half hour saw a birth. I also learned today that some of the guys actually saw an abortion today. Now, Ayacucho is a very religious city, they have 33 Catholic churches, one for every year of Jesus life, so abortions are not common. Recently though, the death rate of pregnant women has doubled from its normal value so I feel that abortions are going to be more common.
I had a really nice walk with some of the girls today, we went to the “Gringo Plaza”, that’s what the Ayacuchan people call it anyway. We went and had coffee and a snack . It’s been so long since I have hung out with just girls that it’s very refreshing! Well I better go! So may people so few devices f communication!
Love and miss you all!
Caity (Robbie)