Photos

Dr. Roberto Granera was the medical team leader. He has an office in the heart of Chinandega. He is deeply devoted to the people of Nicaragua and works long hours on their behalf. He knows many of the small communities where we visited. He has an excellent bedside manner and is constantly trying to improve his ability to care for the Nicaraguense who need medical services. He has three boys in school.

Dr. Marcela Alonso is a family practitioner who works diligently for her patients. She has an office in her home but she accompanied us to the small communities on both of the brigades this year. She sees many patients each day and is especially trying for better health among the women of Chinandega. She teaches good health habits and is deeply concerned about reproductive health and cancer of the cervix, which affect many young women of Nicaragua.

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Dr Angelita Campos is a dentist who worked with us on this brigade. She has a wonderful sense of humor and a great patient satisfaction rate. In spite of less than optimum clinical conditions, she pulled lots of teeth with no audible complaints. She is also very fast, seeing 40-50 patients each day. Her ability to smile broadly even after very long hours endears her to each of the team members. She is an excellent singer who taught me several new Nicaraguan songs in harmony with Dr. Alonzo. Their rendition of "Nicaragua, Nicaraguita" is beautiful and worth hearing over and over.

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Miriam Montes is the beauty, brains, and soul of the medical team. Her nursing skills are key to making the operation successful. She runs the clinic like a taut ship, with absolute control over the dispensation af medications. On arrival at the clinic site, she scopes out the best way to set things up then starts opening up medications and arranging them for best handling. She is rapid and efficient. She teaches good health habits while giving shots and passing out pills.

Maritza Andino is an incredible woman. She is an engineer agronomist who has four daughters, each of whom is beautiful and intelligent. She organizes the trips to the outlying communities and does all of the logistical things which are essential. She then does whatever work is needed to maintain the flow of countless patients through the clinic. Her ability to keep everyone going with the work is a critical factor in the overall success.

Margie Houseman joined us this year at the last minute. She was invaluable in managing huge numbers of people as they milled and pushed around in an effort to get appropriate medications. Her people management skills were wonderful and her understanding of health care delivery was an asset which proved great. She also knows a few songs to keep things loose during the long bus rides. I was really pleased that she could join us at the last minute. Maybe next year we can use her more in planning the whole operation.

Clinic was set up in a school with a corner table as interview and examining table. The air conditioning is visible as cracks in the wall. The pharmacy is on the left in this photo. The waiting lines stretched for several hundred yards outside the school.

The old high school was taken over by our group for this day of clinic. The student chairs were brought outside for waiting chairs. All ages of patients stood in line for hours to obtain needed health care in a rather rudimentary fashion.

	Another view of our high school clinic. The room is actually pretty cool and was among our best facilities for this brigade. The roof was not leaky (it did rain while we were there) and the tables were solid. In some instances, that was not the case. All in all this was good.
	This photo shows the pharmacy crew at work. Miriam's son is helping her and one of our folks is hard at work in the foreground. The medications are arrayed in front of the nurses so the correct medicine is easily found.

Margie and Miriam relax after a lot of very busy hours and prescriptions. The ability of these two women to work in perfect harmony is a tribute to each woman's dedication. It was this ability that made our clinic successful. In short, the nurses were wonderful.

The children of Nicaragua are an absolute joy. They are so much like the children of my youth. Living in a farm community, they are accustomed to hard work and poverty. Yet they are always smiling with the charm of happiness that goes beyond the poverty in which they live. They are rarely malnourished but have a high incidence of parasitic diseases. When they have ear infections, the incidence of hearing loss is high. When they get skin infections, it is very difficult to regain healthy skin. The "flip-flop" sandals seen here are commonly the only shoes they have. Their dental problems are incredible. But the biggest problem is the shortage of schools for most of these children. Much of the education is limited to home classes with all of the neighborhood kids participating.

This is a laundry just a few feet away from our clinic. Clothes are scrubbed on a washboard by hand then hung on a line just outside. The women continued to wash clothes during our clinic. The ability to concentrate is hampered a bit by the activity all around. The laundry is pretty clean. The water is caught in rain barrels or in a cistern.

But it was not all hard work. After a long clinic the local chief pulled Kathy McCallie to the dance floor (which was dirt) for salsa done in the Nicaragua fashion. The music is lively and the dance step is open and free with opportunity to improvise. Everyone dances. This barrio chief, Marco Orlando Torres, was very helpful with handling the crowds which thronged us as we tried to finish.

This is Rodolfo Granera who helped as translator and in a thousand other ways. He is studying to be an architect, but he is the best translator I have encountered. He taught me a lot of the idioms used by locals. In addition he worked hard to see that the patients were well handled.

This is the author (Boyd Shook) and two of the charming muchachas of Nicaragua. These children are representative of the whole country. They are fun and have fun. They need support and an education along with food and healthcare. Children seem to be in the majority. The average age in Nicaragua is 14 or 15 depending upon which report is read. With tuition charged even for elementary schools, the opportunity to change the environment depends upon support from outside.

This picture to me represents the whole of Nicaragua. This setting is the school where we held our clinic. The paint is cracked and peeling as the infrastructure of Nicaragua is cracked and peeling. The woman sits quietly amid the worn out chairs and deteriorating building. Her clothes are simple and clean. The overshirt or sweater is draped around her shoulders in the fashion of the day. Her face is beautiful yet showing signs of wear and worry. She appears depressed and pensive yet she will smile broadly when she comes out of her reverie. She asks only for good health and has been in line for hours after walking many miles to the clinic area. When handed a few antibiotics for her infection she said "muchas gracias, Doctor" and "por favor, regresa pronto."

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