The Hospital...

Most of the days are relaxed and seemingly calm because the patients are on medication that keep them stabilized while in the hospital. That being said, there are some eventful days, too... 

In regards to the patient population, the veterans struggle with so many more psychiatric battles than the average person. Between PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia, there are a spectrum of diseases that put this population at a severe risk for mental illness. I feel honored to be able to take care of such a special group of people.

One patient I will always remember is the patient I was with today. This man came in from a medical floor, where they were treating his stage 4 pressure ulcers (many of them). If you don't know what this means, let's just say that while the nurse was cleaning and dressing the wounds, she said "I think that is the bone."......ya. 

This man was also plagued with dementia and schizophrenia and was disoriented and had disorganized thinking. He had to have ankle boots on to protect his ankles from potential pressure ulcers because of his bed-bound status. He also had big, padded mittens on his hands that reminded me of the Mickey Mouse gloves you can buy as a souvenir at Disney. He was constantly "talking" to his delusions and attempting to bite his fingers through his gloves. He would swear at me and the staff when we tried to bathe him or re-position him to prevent further skin damage. He did not have any teeth so all the food we fed him was of "nectar consistency." He was skin and bones and to add to it, the staff had said he was "too aggressive to feed" so he had not eaten until we got there and had time to encourage him to eat..

Needless to say, this image broke my heart. The fear and helplessness that shown so vividly through his eyes was a big reminder for me that the people I meet everyday are not just patients, they are humans. A human who is separate from their disease. A human with a history and a battle that I will never understand. 

As devastating as it is to watch these people suffer, I am again reminded of how blessed I am to have my health and the life I do. 

Instead of making another (boring) post about the hospital, I wanted to add a little blurb on an experience I had today in the hospital. I was able to leave the psych unit and go down to the operating room to watch a procedure that seems so barbaric. It is called ECT or Electroconvulsive Therapy which is for patients who have not responded to medication. The psychiatrist, nurse and anesthesiologist were the only people in the room, so no surgeon was involved. The patient was put under general (fast acting) anesthesia and a muscle relaxant and a shock was delivered directly to their brain from a large silver "tool" that was pressed against their scalp. This induced a small, controlled seizure and the procedure was done, taking about 15 minutes in total. It is supposed to change the chemical nature of the brain, allowing for a relief of symptoms. I met with five patients who swore by the treatment and said they felt significantly better and that their depression,  schizophrenia, and other psychiatric symptoms had improved.
As barbaric and inhumane as it sounds, it seems to be working...the medical field is astounding!

Today we took a trip to La Hacienda Carabali, a horse ranch on the outskirts of El Yunque Rainforest. There, we took horses through the hills of beautiful scenery, just to the outer border of the rainforest where we were greeted by the most beautiful rainbow. 

La Hacienda Carabali with the hills of the rainforest in the background covered by the rainy clouds.

I made the "mistake" of telling the guide that I had experience with horse riding. He gave me one the the biggest horses and what I found out later to be, one of the fastest horses, too! Scary at first, but riding a horse is like riding a bike; It all comes back so quickly. Just this little time riding through the trees was enough to make me want to pick up horse back riding again when I get back to Connecticut. So, so fun! 

It was too beautiful for words, so I'll just let the pictures do the talking...

We stopped at a river, jumped off our horses and enjoyed what nature had to offer. Our tour guide made tribal face paint with the rocks in the river in which he said is a tradition of the Taino people. Unfortunately, the Tainos are almost all gone off the island because of the Spanish settlements. There is said to be less than 1% of Puerto Ricans with Taino blood. 

My teacher and classmates

After, the ride, we went back and had a nice lunch at a restaurant near the 'hacienda'. Most of us ate the traditional meal of mufungo, a mashed and friend plantain in the shape of a bowl. You can choose chicken, pork, shrimp, lobster, etc to go on top with a choice of garlic or creole sauce. YUM!  

Mufungo with creole chicken

On the way home, the driver of our van mentioned that one of the best beaches was just down the road from where we were, so of course, we made a pit stop. This beach has a line of restaurants which have been the sites of some of Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern shows. 

Again, I just have to express how grateful I am to have this experience. I am having the time of my life and wouldn't trade it for anything. As to where my next adventure is...I think I see something over THERE!! :)

The children in their school uniforms.

As I am enjoying my time down in Puerto Rico and am so grateful for the opportunity, I am continually thinking about the children in Ghana. They started school right after we left and Patrick was able to keep working on the building because of monetary donations and volunteer support. I am always looking at their facebook page to see new pictures of the kids and I miss them more and more each day.

To donate to the orphange, please visit this website, created by a past volunteer. It will help Patrick rebuild the school and a new place for housing and provide a better means of living for the children. 

http://www.gofundme.com/417ay8

Before...

After! The school's progress!
Photos via Savior Children Foundation Facebook Page 

Our first week in Puerto Rico has been crazy! 

Last weekend was the San Sebastian Festival which is what some Puerto Ricans call, "the best weekend on the island". Juan-Carlos, our Puerto Rican residential assistant (and personal tour guide), told us that this festival started by a group of priests but turned into a large party in the streets for four days in a row. He says that Puerto Ricans will find any excuse for a party. :)

We went to Old San Juan Friday night to participate in the festival and were trapped between the crowds of people and the beautiful buildings of the city. After seeing what Old San Juan looked like at night, we couldn't wait to see it during the day.

Saturday afternoon, we took the train and a short bus ride to get to the heart of Old San Juan to see this: 

It looked like a little slice of Europe that was planted in the Caribbean. Every building has a unique history (and color). 

The San Sebastian Festival continued throughout the day and on til Monday.

San Sebastian Festival

One of the big questions people have asked me is how the food is...and shamefully, I haven't been able to try a lot of it. We had a refrigerator packed full of food when we got here so we have not had the chance to eat out a lot. Although, we were able to stop once at a restaurant in Old San Juan that served traditional Puerto Rican food, which we all learned pretty quickly, is FRIED. 

Plantain tamale, baked pork, a fried plantain, fried rice

As my parents have been saying..."Aren't you there for school or is it all vacation?!"

Thus far it has seemed like a vacation, as we are just getting back into school mode. Tuesday was our first day at the hospital, exploring the floor and touring the building. 

Our psych rotation is really interesting! The patients are all very friendly and excited to have new faces on the floor. A sweet man told me we was the ruler of the Ming Dynasty in China and later in life was an Apache Native American. They tell us a lot of things we have to take with a grain of salt...sometimes a very large grain of salt. ;) 

The second day of clinical, I was able to spend the day in the Day Clinic - a program for former inpatient psychiatric patients that do not need hospitalization but need continuing treatment which is mostly group therapy. 

As I walked in the clinic, all of the patients seemed anxious and on edge. I couldn’t tell if this was just the vibe in the clinic or if there was something different that had happened. After hearing “investigación” and “asesinato” a couple times, I figured out the reason for the extra anxiety in the air. The nurse further explained to me that the conversation was about a former participant of the day clinic that had killed his wife and himself the night before. The participants at the meeting were nervous about the risk that one day, they could just snap. It made me realize the thought process of an individual with a psychiatric illness. For example, I know I do not have the mental capability to harm another person, but people with mental illnesses can be nervous that because of the flexibility of mental cognition, they don’t know where their mind can take them. 

Humbling to say the least.  

We have arrived in Puerto Rico!

Myself and 7 other UConn Nursing students flew into San Juan Thursday afternoon. We went back to our apartment to settle in and had pizza...wishing it was empanadas or tacos.

Today, we purchased our public transportation passes and took the train to Centro Medico, an area with many hospitals, including the VA hospital where we will be doing our clinical rotations. We toured the psychiatric ward which was interesting and intimidating.

Not much more to update now. I am just coming in from a swim on the rooftop pool before heading out to Old Town San Juan for the San Sebastian Festival tonight! (Am I spoiled or what!?)



At the VA Hospital 1/17/2014

Just after getting showering down to a science with one bucket of water...we are back!

The last two weeks were so amazing and I wish I could have updated the blog daily but the incredibly slow internet wouldn't allow for that. (I'm talking 20 minutes to load one page)  

So, I pulled out a few of my favorite pictures from the trip with memories attached to share...

The Orphanage:

With a last minute switch, Maggi and I ended up going to the same place. We lived with Patrick, who runs the orphanage and school, and his wife and three children. We happened to be living in the orphanage, too...

Just two days before we arrived, the landlord of the orphanage house told Patrick that they needed to leave. With no other choice, Patrick moved all 40 children into his house and started to build a brand new school, as the old school would remain as is for some of the town's children. He named the new school "Savior Children Foundation" which is also at his house and allows for those in the community to attend school completely free. He asks that, only if they can afford it, to bring 1 cedi (less than $0.50) to pay for their lunch. 

Having the orphanage right in our home-stay was such a blessing because we were able to spend much more time with the children and be of assistance throughout the whole day.

Street view outside the orphanage.

The kids ages ranged from 2-15, some with parent's who couldn't support them but came to visit occasionally and some with parents who had passed away. Most of the children had siblings, which brings me to Gabby, Gifty and Georgina. 

Gifty, me, Georgina, Maggi and Gabby

These girls are triplets, each with a personality of their own. Gabby the funny, giggly, dramatic one who would trick you with fake cries just so she could be held. Gifty, the adventurous one who would do just about anything you dared her. And Georgina who was the reserved, quiet and scared one. These girls, only 4 years old, are so independent and absolutely beautiful; just an example of the many amazing children we met. 

While most of this trip was uplifting, we also had occasional moments where the harsh realities of Africa were ever so evident...

Right when we walked into the orphanage gates, our hearts were stolen by little Deborah. She is a spunky 4 year old with a massive personality. 

The first night we were there, I took note of how tired she seemed to be compared to the other children. They had had a busy day so I figured she just out played everyone else. 

The next night, she again was very tired and sluggish and went to bed about an hour before any of the other kids even began getting ready for bed. 

The next morning, Deborah was not up with the other kids and unfortunately, it took until this time for me to realize that something was seriously wrong. She was hot to the touch and I could not seem to keep her awake. She had been sleeping on the concrete floor so I picked her up to put her on one of the foam mattresses. Maggi had happened to walk into the room right when Deborah started to have a seizure caused by her high temperature. While Maggi stayed to make she she was not in any danger as her seizure progressed, I went to get Patrick. The first thing Patrick did was pour this 'solution' on her forehead. 

"WINNER: Protection, Witch Expeller, Back to Sender, Anti-poison, Healing Mixture"

As Patrick prayed over her, they dumped cold water on her and she slowly began to regain consciousness. After a debate about if they should feed her or take her to the hospital, they decided to feed her first (something I protested against). 

They ended up calling her mother who came and picked her up. We don't know if she ended up going to the hospital but we do know that she had malaria; a disease we had heard about, took pills for, and put up mosquito nets to prevent, but seeing it first hand was terrifying and surreal.

To end on a good note, Maggi and I were able to go away on the weekends and enjoy different tourist sites in Ghana. The first weekend, we were able to go to Cape Coast and enjoy the beach. The second weekend was spent at Kokrobrite, a beachy spot with great shopping! 

We enjoyed watching the fishing boats come in and out of the water and loved the cultural music and dancing at night. 

It is so hard to put the two weeks into words but I will slowly add more stories over the next couple of days. I am off to Puerto Rico tomorrow and will continue writing over the next 4 months of adventure!

After a long period of anticipation, Maggi and I finally leave tomorrow! We have packed all the donations we received into two suitcases to bring to the people in Ghana. We have everything from soap to children's underwear to toothpaste and tooth brushes and so much more! 

Thank you, Beaudoins! :)

Stocked full of new/used books for
the orphanage!

Children's shoes, Rainbow Loom bracelets,
school supplies, soaps, etc.

After the article in the Harbor News was published, I was overwhelmed with the amount of support our small town supplied. A previous high school teacher of mine offered to run a donation drive at the school (you're the best, Mrs. Linn), a girl scout troop wanted to be involved and make Rainbow Loom bracelets for the children (thank you, Troop #62046!), and I received numerous emails from those who simply asked how they could help. The amount of emails that came in just reaffirmed the love I have for my small town. I can't wait to carry the love from Old Saybrook to Africa! 

So...where exactly are we taking all of this?

We both signed up with a New Zealand based organization called International Volunteer HQ, the same organization I worked with when I went to Guatemala in March. I signed up to work in an orphanage while Maggi signed up for the construction/renovation project. 

My placement is at an orphanage known as West African Children's Foundation, a small orphanage in a town about 2 hours outside of Accra (the capital of Ghana). It is home to 42 children ranging from 6 months to 13 years old. The orphanage also houses the town's school during the day. About 150 more children come to the orphanage for school. This means part of my duties will be to teach the children (I am sure my former teachers are laughing at the thought of that. Yikes!). 

My living situation is with a local family in Ghana. I will be staying in their home where they will feed me and house me for the 14 days I am there. The family consists of Mr. and Mrs. Nwodebeh and their three children (ages 16, 11 and 9). Needless to say, I am super excited about being immersed in the Ghanaian culture!

Maggi's placement is two hours on the opposite side of Accra. So we will be four hours apart...sorry mom and dad! ;) She will be working on a construction site building a women's empowerment center. It is known as the One Wish Africa Foundation (founded by IVHQ volunteers) where women can come to receive vocational training and acquire skills for income generating activities to support their families. This specific site of the foundation serves many small communities, also providing training for children. 

As for her living situation, she knows that it will be in a room with bunk beds, and that's about it. That's what I call, 'an ADVENTURE'! 

That's all for now. Hopefully we will be able to put little updates on here while we are in Ghana but the wifi might be sparse or nonexistent. Again, thank you all for your donations, thoughts and prayers. Every donation makes me unbelievable happy, so I can't even imagine what it means to the people in Ghana.

THANK YOU!