{working title}: Jamaica

Sally and I at Scotchies!

I am FINALLY getting around to writing about my incredibly amazing experience in Jamaica. My apologies that it has taken this long! So here we go on a Caribbean adventure...

A group of medical and pharmacy students (accompanied by 4 docs and 1 pharmacist) from UNMC headed down to Jamaica to provide medical care to around 400 patients. We flew into Montego Bay (in Saint James parish--purple--on the northwest coast). The air strip is basically in the water, so it was a bit unnerving to not see land until a split second before we landed. But the water was gorgeous so I guess I didn't mind an impending water landing. We stayed at a Methodist Church in Falmouth, which is the in the neighboring parish, Trelawny (brownish on the map).

Once we were settled in with all of our personal belongings, we started dividing the loads of vitamins and tylenol/ibuprofen into little snack baggies with a 30 day supply in them. We handed at least one of these baggies to basically every patient we saw. That night the church ladies cooked us jerk chicken, some sort of other meat stew stuff, rice and peas (beans...but they call 'beans', peas!), potato salad, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, and cooked green beans and carrots! It was good. I only had a little bite of the mystery meat stew stuff--definitely steered clear of the chicken (icky)--and had my fill on everything else. We also had some REALLY delicious ice cream from a local ice cream shop. I wouldn't be opposed to having some of that every day for the rest of my life...

The Dream Team (including Tommy for once)
Clinic group!

Inside the pharmacy at the Falmouth Clinic.

The next morning, my group started in the clinic. We saw lots of patients with a variety of illnesses. It was super awesome! I don't really see adults ever in clinic (I shadow a pediatrician), so I was terrified to be in charge of their care. As it turns out, it's not all that different...you just have to ask questions slightly differently. I performed my first pap smear on a human instead of a plastic model and I saw this very hard of hearing lady. I'm sure everyone in the clinic heard me take that poor lady's medical history.

We spent the afternoon on the beach and the evening at a local restaurant called "Nazz." I had this baked fish (baked in some sort of vinegar stuff) and, of course, had to try the rum punch. One was more than enough for me though!

Wednesday morning our group toured the parish of Falmouth and also toured the elementary school, the infirmary (like a nursing home, but next to the ocean!), and the markets. We spent the afternoon in clinic again, although it was slower patient flow than the morning prior. We spent the evening doing a "M & M" (morbidity and mortality) session with the doctors...just talking about interesting cases we had seen and also common cases to prepare for so that we knew better treatment options. It was lots of fun! And then Sydney and I teamed up to play dominos with several of the other students and two of the docs.

Outside the Falmouth Clinic

Thursday was our group's day at the away clinic. Each group got to take a trip into the hills of Jamaica and visit a clinic that only gets medical attention every few months. It was utterly nuts! There were 60 patients waiting for us when we got there at 9:15 am! We saw 72 patients in under 5 hours with the equivalent of 2.5 rooms. What an exhausting and busy day! My notes were practically non-existent on patient histories because we moved so quickly between patients. I do remember seeing lots of brother-sister combos though. Dinner was in Montego Bay at a restaurant with wifi! Hooray! Unfortunately my phone was basically dead (it took 4 days without charging it, but it finally died!), so the wifi was short-lived for me. I had curry shrimp and jerk shrimp spring rolls.

Deeside Clinic

Friday morning was back in clinic, but instead of being the primary care providers, our group was in charge of triage. It was a slow morning, so I spent some time with a 6-year-old little boy who was waiting to for his mom to be done with her exam. He very generously showed me how to play temple run. That afternoon was Dunn's River Falls (like a waterfall you climb!), which was both semi-challenging and fun. I will not post any pictures of that though, because my hair looks terrible! :) After the falls, we headed to Scotchies, where they cook your food over a fire and wooden planks! There were TVs there, so much catching up was done on the basketball tournament.

Scotchies!

Saturday was our final full day in paradise and we spent it at the beach! We even got to eat dinner on the beach at a BBQ joint. Seriously some of the best food I've ever had. PLUS we got to watch the sunset! It was absolutely incredible!

Sunday, we went to church, packed up and headed (reluctantly) back to Nebraska. The cold weather nicely welcomed us back home. It was an incredible (and quick!) trip! I'm so glad I was able to go and able to meet the wonderfully kind people of Jamaica!

Away clinic!

Jamaican bobsled!

Deeside Clinic

My food at Scotchies: grilled fish, yam, conch soup,
festival (looks like a breadstick, but is sweet bread) and a rum pineapple!

My food at Bigg's BBQ: cheese fries, baked mac and cheese,
grouper sandwich, grilled veggies, coleslaw, a bite of pulled pork
and a bite of ribs. Yummmm!