Ready or not, here we come

Our first day in the clinic was a whirlwind. While we were eating breakfast in our hotel across the street this morning, patients were already beginning to line up outside the clinic. By the time it opened at 7 a.m., the waiting area in the courtyard was overflowing. Because Dr. Víctor, the doctor in charge of scheduling for the UFS volunteers, was on a brigada (outreach brigade) today, there was some confusion this morning as to what we were supposed to do to get integrated into work at the clinic. Dr. Flores, one of the ophthalmologists, finally found us and gave us a run through of how we should ease into things. He explained to us how a typical day at the clinic goes and taught us how to perform visual acuity tests. Using a chart like this one:

The test is performed by asked the patient to stand a certain distance away from the chart, cover one eye, and to tell us which direction the legs of the "E" are pointing. Because we were directing them in Spanish, sometimes there was confusion or they couldn't understand our unrefined accents, but we came up with a couple different ways to explain the exercise and we were able to complete the test. This test is part of the examination that takes place at the "Pre-clinic" area that each patient attends perform seeing an optometrist for glasses or an ophthalmologist for more specialized problems. 

At the pre-clinic station, Leah and I assisted and observed a technician, Rolando. In addition to the visual acuity testing, we ran patient records back and forth to each of the doctors, administered some eye drops to patients in the waiting room, learned how to use an auto-refractor, a machine that measures what prescription a patient may need, and we also learned how to use a lensometer, which measures the current prescription of a patient's glasses. 

Because the beginning of the day is very busy and crazy, at first we felt in the way, confused and a bit helpless. Some of the techs seemed a little annoyed that we didn't know what we were doing, but after we had helped several patients and began getting the hang of things, they were very patient with us and encouraged our learning. There was a steady flow of patients for nearly five hours before things began to die down a bit. Rolando estimated that each day the clinic may see about 300 patients. After we had our lunch break, the work at the clinic was very slow and much more relaxed. Rolando gave us further instructions about pre-clinic testing, helped us with some of the instructions in Spanish, and finally had the chance to get to know us a bit better. Once the clinic was less busy, I also had the opportunity to observe some of the ophthalmologist's more in-depth examinations. The last 45 minutes of the day, when most of the techs were done with their work, we talked and joked around with them for a while. I think that little bit of social time will be where we can improve and practice our Spanish the most! They even kindly gave us some helpful corrections, which was nice after being laughed at by some of the patients this morning for our weak Spanish!

It was kind of an overwhelming day and we could hardly think straight this afternoon after concentrating so hard in "Spanish-mode," so the first thing we did upon returning to the hotel was take a much needed siesta. We look forward to another busy day tomorrow, especially now that we have a little more confidence in what to expect!