From Sunday, October 31
The sun rose this morning at 5:30am, and the bright light pouring into our hammocks woke us up literally at the crack of dawn. Today was our first day of clinic, and after we boated to shore and walked through the dustry roads into town, we landed ourselves in Novo Remanso--the home of 6000 Brazilians. The town received us with enthusiasm and warm smiles, and when we began setting up in their local clinic, a few little curious children were peering in through the doorway.
During our 8-hour day in Novo Remanso, there was a constant stream of families and patients. The team doctors examined over 150 patients whose chief complaints ranged from work-related arthritis to yeast infections to a soon-to-be mother in labor. The most common diagnoses included worms, urinary tract infections, and upper respiratory infections. One family was treated for scabies, and Alex, our resident burn ICU nurse, even treated secondary burns on a young boy's shins from a motorcycle accident. The dental clinic was swamped all day, as well, and treated over 30 patients. Dr. Mulvany and his team extracted 17 teeth, 2 of which were surgical cases.
Since Novo Remanso is the largest community we'll be visiting this week, we will be returning to the town tomorrow. After the sun set, we all gathered on the upper deck of the boat to organize the medication and count pills in anticipation of another flood of patients tomorrow. With Bob Marley playing in the background and bugs dive-bombing us in the dim lighting, there couldn't be a better way to end our first day of clinic in the Amazon.
For more information on International Medical Relief, visit www.internationalmedicalrelief.org.
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