Poco a poco

Poco a poco – little by little. I heard that a lot from the other staff members my first few days working at the clinic. And it was something I needed to hear. Honestly, the first week there was a little overwhelming. The first day Noemí, one of the nurses, walked me through doing triage with one or two patients, and then I was on my own with them, jumping right in. It felt something comparable to drinking out of a fire hydrant. Not that taking people’s height, weight, and blood pressure is a particularly difficult task. Taking the basic medical histories of new patients is a little more complicated, but even that is basically just completing a form of questions. I was just a little overwhelmed with the prospect of being responsible for documenting each patient’s information correctly. And, because I haven’t actually done this in the States either, most of the protocol or “normal” answers to the medical history questions I’m not even familiar with in English, much less Spanish. Plus, especially at the beginning, I had to learn simple things like how the system of street addresses works or how many checkups a mother is supposed to have during her pregnancy, and I still often have to ask someone how to spell their last name or the town where they were born. So the first few days, I felt more incompetent and in the way than like I was being much of a help.

It’s funny – in the process of raising support to come down here, I learned a lot about being humbled and relying on God and other people. I prayed that this would be a lesson I continued to learn each day when I was down here…and (would you believe it?!) God thought I was serious. J Being in a new environment, a new language, a new system of how people do things, working with new people – all this on top of learning new skills and procedures, even if they are just basic, makes depending on God and others a necessity. I have to be humbled when Noemí answers all my questions, corrects my mistakes, or patiently watches me prepare and then administer a shot at an agonizingly slow and inexperienced pace - in the same time it would probably take her to perform it easily half a dozen times. Or when Jenny, the cashier/secretary, has to spell out to me what she needs me to go ask Dr. Julton, and then how he doesn’t seem bothered at all by having to repeat the answer twice, but rather treats me with the same compassion and full attention he gives each of his patients. Or when Nila, the nurse/pharmacist/sweet-fun-grandmotherly figure comes and asks me every day, “¿ya tomaste un cafecito?” – if I’ve already had my coffee break – and then takes me up for a warm drink, a roll, empanada or papa rellena, and a comforting conversation.

Yes, I’m learning a lot. From the extremely gracious and kind people with whom I work. From the patients, most of whom I only encounter for a few minutes but some of whom I’ve had the privilege (is it a privilege, if they’re coming to receive medical care?) of seeing a few times when they come back for follow-ups or check-ups. From simply walking through Wichanzao, getting to know the neighborhood a little bit, and wanting to – beginning to – see a little more of what life is really like here, not as a tourist but as a resident who is interested in the individuals who live here. Or so I hope. I am beginning to be accustomed and feel more comfortable, at least with the environment and my basic responsibilities. And I hope that, as that continues more and more, that my curiosity and compassion would increase. That I would be genuinely interested in and invested in each person I attend, whether it’s someone I see once for two minutes or someone with whose circumstances I really become familiar by seeing them week after week. So I’ve been there three weeks now, and I feel like I’ve made progress. But sometimes that makes me realize just how far still I need to go. I guess, though, that’s the goal. Day by day, encounter by encounter, mistake by mistake, little victory by little victory, challenge by challenge, smile by smile…poco a poco.

I’ll write more later about what the clinic actually does and how it serves people, so be on the lookout for that. For now, enjoy these few pictures…
Noemi and I with Señora Victoria, an elderly lady we went to visit about a week ago (see http://www.pmmedicalministry.blogspot.com/ for more on this and other work of the clinic)

This is a view of the clinic from outside - Consultorio Medico Pastoral.

Lunch with some of the clinic staff (Daniel - dental student/fellow intern with me; Angel - dentist at the clinic who always gives me a hard time; Nila; Dale - clinic administrator and missionary with Peru Mission; Noemi) at the end of the second week. My first ceviche after they found out that I had yet to try this typical Peruvian dish.