Jamaica Pediatric Medical Initiatives: Where does the time go????

So living in paradise and working in the tropics is amazing!!! I have been here 12days now, and my adventure is starting to wind down :( but I plan on enjoying every bit of it. Highlight of my week, there are many, but biggest is that I have a roommate!!! Yay Dr. Rena coming from Ohio to join the Issa fun.

I made it out to Port Maria this week on Monday. I commandeered another corner of the A&E in the name of Paediatrics, saw a few sick visits but as it was a rainy day there was limited turnout. What I did see was a pretty impressive L mandibular dental abscess which had been referred to the A&E from a local dentist. I admitted her and started her on IV Augmentin, I attempted to use Clindamycin but there was none available. The downside was that I knew that even once the antibiotics improved the inflammation, that she ultimately needed the tooth extraction. This is a down point because access to dental care is even more limited than health care down here. The happy ending is that when I returned to work on Tuesday, and visited her on the ward she was able to fully open her mouth and her pain was improved. Though the ending is not ideal, I did make a difference.

Wednesday may be my favorite day of the week here. The day starts with inpatient rounds, and the medicine is overall similar but the drugs of choices and incidence of drug resistance are worlds apart it seems.   There is always good discussion about Western trends in medicine and whether or not it is applicable herein Jamaica.   From there I wander down to the A&E. It is always curious to me when the nurses ask me if I will see a child >12yo. It was explained to me that their Pedi wards go from 0-12yo, but this limitation is due to the size of the beds.

Back down in the A&E my day was just about down when a frantic father brought in his 4yo son. Seems the unfortunate little one was found at the other end of his sister's bucket and had been hit directly in the eye. His conjunctival edema was so impressive that I was very worried about a conjunctival laceration. We were able to refer him fairly quickly to Bastamante Children's to see ophthamology. After this busy day I get to ride back along the countryside and watch the sunset as I rode.   Working in paradise, is a gift.

Working is great, but this is Jamaica we are talking about and I now have a fantastic partner in crime. So far we've taken in tons of fantastic food, shopping and reggae dancing. I look forward to the International Gala the resort is having tonight.   The setup looks fantastic and I am sure the food will be amazing as always!