Back to the Basics

Yesterday was Day 2 in Svay Pak. During the afternoon I joined Carla, the resident physician with AIM and three nurses  from Reno, NV as we ran a medical clinic for the women and children of the village.  The clinic is open a couple of afternoons a week.  We are each assigned a translator, my translator is is training (1st day,  a bit rocky for both of us).    The women had been waiting for over an hour to have a chance to see us & receive  care. Each visit would take about 10 minutes, the translation is slow and painful.  We checked vitals, blood glucose levels, and recorded subjective data.  This was the easy part.  Discovering the problem took some skill.  The Cambodians describe their symptoms differently.  Having a hot chest can mean a tight chest or a cough.  It is important to know the occupation of the patient ( yes, even some 7 year olds have an occupation here) Brick factory workers are seeking care for pain of the back, neck, and hands. Grandmothers who carry large kettles of soup to sell, shoulder and arm pain.   Some brought their children with cough & runny noses.  A couple of times I was faced with a description of symptoms that seemed to have no basis, and no findings.  That's were Dr. Carla comes in.  You see, Carla gets it.  She listens and then dispenses some medication, not always what fits the ailment. When I question her later she explains that for some of these women, they come with symptoms not their own.  They come for another who cannot not come, is too ill to come, someone who might be denied permission by their "employer" (owner) from seeking even the free care we are offering.  They CANNOT return empty handed.  The consequences would not be good.   Carla gets it.  She left her position in Brazil as a critical  care physician  to serve here in Svay Pak with AIM. She fosters one of the rescued girls, a beautiful young lady who now provides translation services as we serve these women and children.  It feels good to be doing what I know, to feel that I am of help. Today I'm most thankful that I can be a small help alongside Dr. Carla and these three other nurses who "get back to the basics"  and truly get the meaning of being the hands and feet of Christ.