This was out day to go out on nurses rounds to the villages. Basically, each village or two has a part-time health aideknoknows everyone. She goes around and finds out who's sick, who'shaving trouble with their meds, etc, and makes a list. Onceevery 1-2 weeks, a public health nurse from CHAD comes around the village, meets up with the health aide, and goes to see the patients. She'll make it to about 4 vilages in a day, going to into individual homes. Sometimes the patients only need counseling on how to take their meds. Sometimes they need replacement meds, and aregiven a week's supply with directions to report to clinic within that time. Sometimes nothing can be done and she tells them to go to clinic ASAP, or even the CMC hospital. The nurse has limited meds to offer, mostly Tylenol, some anti-hypertensives, some diabetic. She does not dispense antibiotics.
So, we met up in the morning at the CHAD clinic and I was assigned to a Jeep with Renee (public health nurse, in solid blue sari), Sangita (nursing student in blue/white polkadot sari. a driver, and various health aides, wearing pink saris. It was hot, so we brought lots of water and bag lunches. The countryside around Vellore is beautiful. For all the noise and trash and chaos of the town, the surrounding villages were indeed serene. Some villages had paved streets, and looked like a real town with a center. Others were just random farm houses that happened to be near each other. This was an amazig day. We walked on dikes between rice paddies to get to huts with one room and a thatched roof. We saw 11-day old patients and people so old they didn't remember their birthdays. 100% of the conversations were in Tamil, but the nurses were kind enough to interpret. These patients, who obviously have next to nothing, would invite us in and offer us food and drink. Itwas amazing and heartbreaking at times.
I saw a mother with a growth-retarded newborn and nobody to help her. The husband's family only helps out for the second child, so he and his family abandonded her. She sold all her livestock, has no way to earn money or any help, and broke down into tears while we were there. We couldn't offeranything other than a shoulder.
I met an old man, no major problems, just old and tired. He and his two wives live with their granddaughter. He has seven children but none of them help.
I saw many people, went into many houses, hit my head many times on "doorframes" into thatched roofs. All the villages have electrical and telephone wires strung, most homes have access to power. They plow their fields with oxen, get water from a pump, survive as subsitance farmers. They were all very gentle and gracious, and the kids were ridiculously cute.
It was a long day, and I have the most amazing farmer's tan to show for it, but it really showed me howIndian life is. Beautiful scenery, hand-to-mouth existence.
So, after much work, I have discovered that neither the CMC college nor hospital libraries allow any USB or CR-ROM usage due to virus fears. Thus, I'll have to upload pics at an internet cafe with super-slow dialup and only1 USB port for 6 computers. Thus, the promised pics and video, of which I have enormous amounts, will trickle in slowly. I'll add pics to old blog pages and let you know when they've been updated.
So, we met up in the morning at the CHAD clinic and I was assigned to a Jeep with Renee (public health nurse, in solid blue sari), Sangita (nursing student in blue/white polkadot sari. a driver, and various health aides, wearing pink saris. It was hot, so we brought lots of water and bag lunches. The countryside around Vellore is beautiful. For all the noise and trash and chaos of the town, the surrounding villages were indeed serene. Some villages had paved streets, and looked like a real town with a center. Others were just random farm houses that happened to be near each other. This was an amazig day. We walked on dikes between rice paddies to get to huts with one room and a thatched roof. We saw 11-day old patients and people so old they didn't remember their birthdays. 100% of the conversations were in Tamil, but the nurses were kind enough to interpret. These patients, who obviously have next to nothing, would invite us in and offer us food and drink. Itwas amazing and heartbreaking at times.
I saw a mother with a growth-retarded newborn and nobody to help her. The husband's family only helps out for the second child, so he and his family abandonded her. She sold all her livestock, has no way to earn money or any help, and broke down into tears while we were there. We couldn't offeranything other than a shoulder.
I met an old man, no major problems, just old and tired. He and his two wives live with their granddaughter. He has seven children but none of them help.
I saw many people, went into many houses, hit my head many times on "doorframes" into thatched roofs. All the villages have electrical and telephone wires strung, most homes have access to power. They plow their fields with oxen, get water from a pump, survive as subsitance farmers. They were all very gentle and gracious, and the kids were ridiculously cute.
It was a long day, and I have the most amazing farmer's tan to show for it, but it really showed me howIndian life is. Beautiful scenery, hand-to-mouth existence.
So, after much work, I have discovered that neither the CMC college nor hospital libraries allow any USB or CR-ROM usage due to virus fears. Thus, I'll have to upload pics at an internet cafe with super-slow dialup and only1 USB port for 6 computers. Thus, the promised pics and video, of which I have enormous amounts, will trickle in slowly. I'll add pics to old blog pages and let you know when they've been updated.
The pictures on this page show the public health nurses going into villages and houses, as well as some of the sights along the way. The woman with the baby was the one who began to cry later in the visit (note the baby mosquito net behind her). We also see a tailor at work, a man drying rice, the low entrances that I banged my head on several times, roadside temple, a doorway where we had lunch (everybody shares what they have) . We see buffalo power juxtaposed with electric power. I have a pic of the old man, his two wives, and granddaughter. The last pic was from the very last house we went to. We had been there talking you a young mother about her baby, in the house for about 5min, when I heard a noise behind me. Turns out she had another daughter too shy to come out to see us, so all we could see were her feet.
Next up: CHAD Day 2 - Doctor's Rounds
Next up: CHAD Day 2 - Doctor's Rounds
(even more pics)
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