October 19th

Today we all woke up around 7 am and did yoga first thing in the morning. It was very relaxing and a good way to start the day. Then we all got ready and headed the the La Plaine clinic. We all had different roles while there. Some went and helped the pharmacist dispense and counsel while others worked side by side the the doctors and nurses. You wouldn't believe how different everything is here in Dominica. All the medical supplies that we take for granted back the U.S. they either don't have or have a very limited supply (things such as needles, medical record charts, lancets, bandages, etc). For each patient that visits the clinic they have a composition book where they record their problems and the different medications they have been taking. After we were done with the clinic we went to the La Plaine primary school. There were kids ranging in age from about 5 or 6 to about 12 or 13. When we got there you couldn't even imagine the excitement on their faces. They were extremely curious to learn who were were and why we were there. We started off giving them stress balls that we had left over from the health fair and those things went like wild fire. The kids were going crazy over them. I think they were excited to just get something new! It was so cute! Then we got to play with them and interact with them a little bit outside. We started taking pictures of them and they absolutely LOVED it. They were all dying to get their pictures taken so they could look at them after. Then we went in to two different classrooms of different age groups and talked to them about why we became pharmacists, what it takes to become a pharmacist, and the importance of medications and schooling. They all seemed very interested in what we had to say and had a lot of questions for us. We told them that we would be back next week and they were all very excited. Before we left one little girl came up to Dr. Abrons and gave her a hug and then made her way around the group. This sparked the interest of all the others and before we knew it we were getting hugs from EVERYONE in the class. It was adorable. It made us all feel really good and appreciated. We then went into the library where we met Allegra (who is a part of the peace corps) and helped put the books that we donated on the shelves. It was nice to see how excited all of the kids were to get these new books. I asked them if they liked to read and they all gave a unanimous YES! When we returned back to jungle bay the girls went on a "walk" with Nancy (the outdoor activities coordinator). I say walk in quotations because the walk was more like a hike. It was on the road near by, but because Dominica is such a mountainous island the hike was straight up. It was pretty tough but rewarding at the end. All in all it was a great day and it felt good to bring some smiles to peoples faces.
-Beth-