Today (June 14) was busier than the last two days, with at least two confirmed buses of patients coming at some point for the clinics. I worked in the eye clinic again, this time taking histories and translating Spanish or Quechua to English on the medical forms. Luckily I was joined by Mia and Andrea, two fellow medical students who spoke fluent Spanish, as well as my trusty local translators. The intakes were fun because patients would laugh with us and call us “doctorita” or “little doctor” and even wanted to take pictures with us. Mia told one of the patients that she was the same age as her grandmother, and the patient laughed, told Mia that she was her Peruvian grandmother, and requested a picture with her! At points the lines got chaotic because patients cutting in front, and that’s when we established a system of order using letters(because the eye clinic later used numbers). At the end of the day, a large group of kids and volunteer firefighters came to the eye clinic for vision checks and the outdoor courtyard was so lively! The young girls loved taking pictures with our medical student leader, Jared, and we took a massive group photo at the end of their tests. When returning from the clinic to the hotel, everyone knew where to go for their favorite dinner(the bakery across the street for chicken empanadas, the restaurant two blocks away for good chicken, the hotel for convenience). We were able to enjoy each other’s company in the main dining hall at the hotel until bedtime, relaxing before our last full clinic day.
~ Chrissie Chevalier, OMS I
