Panchimalco Reflection - February 2008

Cindee Wertz
 

Although I'm not a clinical employee, I’ve felt drawn to the opportunity to volunteer to go on a medical mission trip to El Salvador.  I contacted the program coordinator, who told me they needed general helpers in addition to physicians (but they had a waiting list for general helpers) and translators (no waiting).  So I volunteered to go as a translator and said I’d be happy to help out somewhere else, if that seemed better.  I ended up being asked to go as a translator for the trip in February - How exciting!  I was counting on the Spanish I learned earlier in my life, and have used since then, serving me well, now that I could really use it again.

I found that we’d be working in a village of indigenous people, called Panchimalco.  It’s just outside of San Salvador.  We’d be staying in a hotel in San Salvador and bussing out to the village for the clinic daily.

BACK IN THE USA AFTERWARD

What a marvelous trip I had.  We all worked very hard, but I just loved it.  It did feel really good to be welcomed home by the customs lady in Houston, however much I may have enjoyed myself and felt useful. 

We left Sacred Heart to drive up to Seattle, where we stayed overnight and met the other folks who were going from other cities, and the other folks driving up from Eugene.  We got up early to catch the shuttle to the airport.  Then we flew from Seattle to Houston and then from Houston to San Salvador.  Got there at about 9:00 pm, so it was dark and I couldn’t see hardly anything of the country.  It was fun watching a Thunder storm from the top while on the plane, over part of Mexico.

We had an armed guard out front of the hotel where we stayed.  Up early in the morning to the sound of exotic bird song for a nice breakfast buffet.

We went to mass on Sunday in Panchimalco.  It’s about a 40-minute bus ride from the capital of San Salvador, and mass was in the beautiful, old adobe church where our clinic would be set up.  The church was built by conquistadors in 1725.

The Padre gave up his room, so we could set up our clinic, and we also set up on the patio that served as his catechism and education area, and he gave up his study to be our private room for GYN exams for the women.  We set up the clinic on Sunday afternoon.  It was hard, sweaty work, and just thinking of all the people coming, made me feel like I wasn’t quite sure why I was there, and not sure whether I would be useful.  Turned out I was, though.

The indigenous people we served were so gracious.  Small, dark, thin and so very appreciative of our coming. We got “home” to the hotel dead tired at about 7:30 or 8:00, had dinner, and got to bed at about 10.  We heard that we hadn’t seen as many patients as we thought we might today, but we felt like we’d been working our tails off.

Up early again in the morning, and hit it hard.  Tuesday, rather than visiting with the people, we streamlined our process, and got to treating them much sooner.  I found that these people aren’t respected by the other Salvadorans, and they’re not used to being treated kindly and with deference.  How sad.  They’re ashamed of their ethnicity, and there are now no native language speakers, although their Spanish has hints of Nahuatl here and there.

Dinner at a nice restaurant in San Salvador, where we were serenaded by Mariachis.  What an experience.  We traveled everywhere on a big, red bus chauffeured by Hernan, who is exquisitely lovable.

Up early Wednesday for more.  Already the third day of clinic!  The people that came in Wednesday, were from the most remote areas surrounding the pueblo.

After all the General Medicine patients were seen, I went over to where the eye doctor was, to help translate (we had 4 main areas; Pediatrics, General Medicine, GYN and the Eye Clinic – and of course, we had a free pharmacy).  One older woman was being fitted for sunglasses (free, of course).  It became apparent to me that she’d not understood that she was only being fitted for sunglasses and no regular glasses, to avoid further damage to her eyes, and that they could not help her with the main problem.  So it became my duty to explain to her that the damage to her eyes had gone untreated for so long, that it was now too late for the eye doctors to help her.  In other words, we were doing nothing for her, other than giving her glasses to block the sun from her damaged eyes.  That woman was so sweet.  I had the most tender moment with her; when I told her that and she just hugged me to her and rocked me back and forth, patted me on the back and said the Spanish version of “Oh, my baby.”  Then when someone realized she didn’t want to leave, and encouraged her to get to the pharmacy to get her prescriptions and she realized she should go, she gave me a kiss on the cheek and said “God Bless you” in 3 different ways.  I was so humbled that this sweet woman would be so gracious and thankful to me, when all I did was to give her bad news.  Granted, I delivered it in as kind a way as I knew, but it couldn’t have been easy for her to receive it.

I heard from several people how they’d gotten up early, to either walk for hours or ride the bus for hours to get in to Panchimalco, and then they’d waited in line without food all day in the blazing sun.  They then had to return home afterward.  Such sacrifice for so little medical care. 

Thursday morning, up early for breakfast and the trip to Panchimalco.  We had some national doctors helping out as well, and some Health Promoters doing crowd control.  Another long day.  One woman came in with her daughter at about 6:00 pm, complaining that about 2 weeks ago she’d fallen and hurt her wrist.  The doctor diagnosed that it had definitely been broken.  The doctors worked with her to try to set the arm, but it just wasn’t cooperating.  Turns out that she’d broken it almost a month earlier, rather than 2 weeks, and it was just too late to set.  With the help of some of the national doctors, they did arrange for her to have surgery on her wrist the next week (free to her of course) in country, and we wish her well. 

Up early Friday for the final day of clinic.  We saw people from within the pueblo of Panchimalco this day, and I heard the doctor actually tell someone that it would be good for her to LOSE WEIGHT – maybe about 10 pounds.  She was a plump middle-aged señora with high blood pressure.  Not the typical person from the countryside.

After clinic (we had to close up at about 4:00 pm), we went to the Casa De La Cultura, where the national folklore ballet danced for us, and then we had speeches by dignitaries (including the mayor of the city), native food, enjoyed the museum and the art gallery across the street, and then headed “home.”

When we were at the Casa De La Cultura, the Salvadoran doctor stressed to us how our medicine was so much appreciated, but that what helped the people heal and be whole in addition to the medicine, was the compassion with which we delivered care.  How true.  That sure brings new meaning to “Compassionate Care” and a “Healing Environment” – that’s something to take home and ponder.

Saturday and Sunday were touristy days.  We visited Monseñor Romero’s memorial sites and those of the 6 Jesuit priests and 2 women who were assassinated during the civil war.  We also went to the Fernando Llort art gallery, and visited an open-air market.  And we went to Suchitoto, the former capital of El Salvador.  It’s about an hour’s bus ride, and is a very gracious and beautiful city, with all kinds of colonial Spanish culture.  The city and immediate vicinity were major target areas for carpet bombing and were ravaged by Agent Orange and Napalm during the war (courtesy of the US Government), and the countryside and the people bear the scars.