Day 1, Group 3

We went to the Pedernales Community, a Rainbow Community south of Matagalpa. Dr Richard and Dr Joanne worked with Drs Rachel and Salina seeing children. So many children.

This is Dr. Salina Paarlberg............good day today. Worked with Dr. Richard and saw 16 patients. For the most part, we saw several upper respiratory infections just as in the states; several complaints of cough, fever, and rhinorrhea. We had a couple of complaints
of kids sleeping with their eyes open:). Most patients looked well; we had 2 slightly ill patients that came in with abdominal distension and diarrhea. They were treated for parasites; albendazole 400 mg po for one day. Waiting for the next adventure.................

This is Richard Strauss writing now. Pedernales is a small appearing community a few miles off the two lane main highway between Matagalpa and Managua roughly 45 minutes from Matagalpa. It's down an unpaved rutted one lane road that seemed to end in a little ravine surrounded by mud/brick/tin huts with dirt floors. We wondered why such a community was established in the first place however long ago it was founded, and we assumed it's because there was a hole in the ground with a water source that was a source of fresh water for those who lived there. The well was across the road from the feeding station that was doubling as a clinic today, and it was the site of a drowning last week when a young boy fell into the well and couldn't be rescued. The people of the community are now looking to build a fence around the top of the well to avoid another tragedy. As Salina said, she and I saw 17 children today, and Rachel and Joanne saw another 15 to 21, with the third group seeing another 20 or so patients, for a total of 63 patients. Most were beautiful little kids with minor illnesses, and some had walked for great distances over rocks, branches, dirt paths, and creek beds to arrive at the "clinic." Lots of families are used to receiving medicines at their visits, and most of the patients we saw didn't need anything, so mostly we gave away toothbrushes, toothpaste, and stickers. And it was hot in that hut. It's very hard to imagine that people live, cook, eat, and sleep in those conditions. When there were no more patients to see, we returned to the hotel to clean up, and then we took a 20 minute ride up the road to eat dinner and wander around Selva Negra (Black Jungle), a gorgeous coffee plantation/nature reserve/community several thousand feet above Matagalpa (which itself is around 2000 feet above sea level). Tomorrow we head to another small clinic with the doctors from Rainbow Network.