Jamaica Pediatric Medical Initiatives

I cant believe its already my last week in Jamaica. This weekend was (sadly) the first time I took advantage of resort activities, touring Dunn’s River Falls, and laying by the pool with a nice book. It is times like this I regret that ‘I’ in my personality test profile. Things seem to be winding to a close pretty naturally though, and I even received my first follow up in clinic today. The mother of a girl I treated a couple of weeks ago at Port Maria stopped me in the hall just to report that her daughter’s skin infection had completely resolved. I think that is one of the most satisfying parts about working internationally: there are some diseases that are so easily treated that you feel guilty taking credit for its treatment. Infection? Antibiotics. Done! But of course, that comes with its sad stories as well. People my age would have parents who had died of some readily treatable illness, or a sibling who died from pneumonia. Pneumonia? What healthy child dies from pneumonia? “Well, that’s life,” they would reply to my sad expression. Not any life I’ve lived, I thought.

Yesterday was a particularly exciting day in Annotto Bay. There was a child requiring a CT Head, and due to the lack of resources at that hospital, we traveled to University of the West Indies (UWI: eu-wee) in Kingston via ambulance. After I was done feeling nauseated and dizzy, I had the opportunity to explore this new hospital. Dr Ravi made the journey with me, and was a wonderful tour guide while we were there. The rooms, the emergency department, the wonderful wonderful machines! What a huge difference it was from the clinics I’ve been frequenting up to this point. Being in Kingston really made me feel like Jamaica wasn’t so foreign after all. If you have some Dramamine on hand, and forgot to eat your lunch, I definitely recommend giving the trip a try.