This morning as we rode through the city of Cartagena, it became drastically obvious we were leaving the tourist areas with high rise condos and navigating towards the less affluent areas on the outskirts of town. As we traveled closer to the bluff where the monastery to the Virgin Mary is perched overlooking the city of Cartagena, the streets narrowed, turned from hard surface to dirt and the homes, while they were well kept, were much smaller and a bit rundown. We drove past an open air market where fish were laid it on tables ready for purchasing along with an assortment of fresh fruit and vegetables.
When we arrived at clinic site, the children of the school sang songs for us and welcomed us to their community.
Clinic began a bit chaotically. I was trying to organize and sort the medications when patients began showing up so we quickly began pulling prescriptions and in between kept trying to sort the many sample medications that were donated. It is quite a challenge because the names are in Spanish. Gratefully I have a Colombian medical student assisting us in pharmacy and he has been able to translate or tell me what the medications that are not available in United States are for. Interestingly, Benadryl is illegal in Colombia but we have samples of codiene and hydrocodone to give out. Today I had the opportunity to use some of my schooling. One of the nurse practitioners needed a Z pack. We had a liquid azithromycin so I figured out the dosing for the equivalent.
There was a thunderstorm in the afternoon with intense lightening but we did not lose electricity. I stepped out of the pharmacy and looked out the back door of the building. Water was flowing down the road like a muddy river.
We had a total of 309 people in clinic and 104 salvations. After closing, the pastor thanked us for coming and for our work. He comments that in the community they have lots of fights and today we fought also. But in a peaceful way by demonstrating the love of God.
Rainbows and Otter Pelt 