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Visiting El Salvador with PeaceHealth and Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace
care mission was a lesson of peace. A
group of 26 volunteers traveled to the indigenous rural town of Panchimalco. Three
general physicians, one gynecologist, two pediatricians, three optometrists, one
optician and several nurses, pharmacists, and several interpreters traveled with
their skills and few tools of their practice.
I traveled as an interpreter but I had the opportunity to practice rural
dietetics during the pediatric clinics. Our
clinic was the house of the catholic priest.
We even invaded father Jose Antonio’s bedroom to set up the clinic.
We
traveled daily in Hernan’s bus to the town of
Panchimalco. I felt like I was in my home country Colombia
visiting the rural areas and seeing curvy roads, plantain trees, sugar cane,
bougainvilleas, country restaurants, and colorful houses.
Father
Jose Antonio gave us a very nice welcoming on Sunday mass.
I had tears in my eyes of joy and sadness.
I knew about the hardships that Salvadorans suffered during the ravaged
civil war and how much they struggle with the cost of living.
I sat with the choir and they shared the book and the singing with me.
For some reason I felt connected to this town. My heart had a vision of
peace and it was healing.
After
the mass, we set up the pharmacy. We
brought donated medicines from several pharmaceuticals and volunteers.
We gave to all the patients a month’s supply of vitamins.
Some of the children’s vitamins were gummy animals.
Tom (a physician) and I were concerned about how children would want them
as if they were candy. We felt
somewhat relieved that the pharmacists emphasized to the parents that the
vitamins needed to be stored away from children.
Malnutrition
is in the rise in the rural areas. In
Panchimalco we saw few cases of failure to thrive with possible cause of
malnutrition. We also saw few cases
of gastroenteritis. In the pediatric clinic we saw several cases of runny noses,
headache and abdominal pain. I worked with Gregg, a pediatrician who also
diagnosed and treated several cases of heart murmurs, asthma, pneumonia,
scabies, impetigo and intestinal parasites. Gregg also cleaned many ears that
were plugged with wax and provided medications to treat several ear infections.
We worked with Salvadoran physicians in arranging for appropriate
diagnostic tests and referral to specialists.
One
main complaint from the mothers was that the child didn’t want to eat.
In the first few cases we saw, we found out that the child was actually
eating plenty of empty calories and have adopted American culture of eating
“junk” food (they call it “churros”) and drinking coffee, and
caffeinated soda drinks. We saw
babies that also drank coffee. The
coffee in
El Salvador
is delicious (as a Colombian I can say it and Juan
Valdez won’t be mad at me). The
thing that moms didn’t know is that caffeine at a small age may assist in
decrease the appetite and may dehydrate (perhaps some of the headache complaints
were from dehydration since the weather is also hot ~ 90 F).
In addition, caffeine may deplete the absorption of iron, an important
mineral during childhood. After a
while, we discover that much of the town had the same eating habits.
Father Jose Antonio received nutrition information and he gave the
message to the town. He said; “I
already told them at church… and I’ll keep giving them more nutrition
messages.” From the nutrition
point of view, mission was accomplished. The
question now is how to fix the infrastructure (clean water, sanitary conditions)
and improve sustainability to help even better the people of Panchimalco.
The health providers (promotores) of the community get advanced education
to work with the community. Here is
where other groups of volunteers can come and assist with education and skilled
tools to improve the lives of people of El Salvador.
I
was very impressed to see breastfeeding is the right thing to do.
Most healthy babies we saw were breastfed.
Sadly, we saw many children with dental caries.
Gregg and I made several suggestions to visit the dentist, encouraged
dental hygiene and to decrease junk foods and sodas from their diets.
We
had two days of sightseeing in San Salvador
and the town of Suchitoto. We
learned about Romero (the heroic Archbishop who was the “voice of those
without voice; the farmers and the poor”) and their civil war, visited the
University
of
Central America, several cathedrals and art galleries.
Shopping was fun at the galleries. I enjoyed seeing the art from Miguel
Angel Ramirez in Panchimalco and Fernado Llort in San Salvador….very colorful and happy.
I didn’t enjoy the massacre pictures from the civil war at the
University from
Central America… I couldn’t bear to watch.
War and killings bring sadness and poverty.
Only if the resources used in war could be used to provide food and
health, there will be color and happiness in everybody’s lives. Sister
Eleanor, the founder of Paz y Salud was our tour guide.
She is very devoted to The Salvadorans. She is a wealth of knowledge and
provider of peace and health to all.
We
wore nametags with only our first name. This
made the best connection with all the people from
El Salvador
and the volunteers….all being one. When we honor
the place that we reside, with a vision of a healing planet, a place of peace,
of joy, of truth; that is when we all become ONE.
In your heart, hold on the vision that all of us can contribute to the
change we wish to see in our Mother Earth and its inhabitants; no matter where
you are or will be… And this is a healthy call for peace.
For more information about Paz y Salud, please check www.pazsalud.org
Gloria is a registered dietitian who works with Sacred Heart Home
Health and teaches Yoga in Cottage Grove.
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