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VOSH-ONE, JAN 2007 RIO SAN JUAN, NICARAGUA
Dra. Lizett NavarreteSolorzano, Director of the Centro de Salud in the town of Buena Vista, registered patients for us when we held a clinic in that town. All of the clinic Directors we met were dedicated to the people they serve, tho' most remain one, or two years at most, to complete the community service requirement needed by all Nicaraguan medical students.
The two rom-schoolhouse adjacent to the Centro de Salud, is where we held our clinic for that town. The building is relatively new, with a moveable wall in the middle. The school serves elementary and high school students in 3-hour rotations.
Derek Feifke, OD, of Lexington, MA, examining a patient in Sabalo.
This Centro de Salud in the rural town of Maravillas serves the immediate community of several hundred, as well as the surrounding communities numbering in the several thousands.
Travel in the Rio San Juan area is most frequently by boat, at times over treacherous, rutty roads on the back of a truck, or on foot.
Chris Fields, OD, of New Hampshire, poses with a youngster and his mom, as Chris's dad, Bob Fields, of Seattle,. WA, fits a patient to glasses behind him.
NIcas pose for the camera while waiting in line to have their eyes examined.
Although it wasn't the rainy season, sudden heavy rains are a daily happening, leaving the dirt roads and byways muddy muddy and full of ruts. Basic black boots wer the most common type of footwear the Nicas wore.
Jennifer D'Amico, OD, with a patient.
We held a one-day clinic in Los Chiles. Its real-life Main Street resembles a set straight out of a western movie of years ago.
Dr. Maykel Sandoval Mejia, Director of the Centro de Salud in Los Chiles, hams it up with Chris Fields, OD (l) and Joe D'AMico, OD. This health center is modern and bustling; it is the hub for all medical services in this region.
Team member Steven Feifke screening a patient in the town of Sabalo.
Specially dressed to have her eyes examined.
VOSH-NECO team leader, Joe D'Amico, made this woman very happy when he fitted her with a pair of glasses with a very high prescription. She'd never worn glasses before. Dr. D'Amico had a second pair made for her when he got home and sent them to her through her local Centro de Salud.
Happy with her new glasses.
Tim O'Connor, OD, carefully uncovers the protective mosquito netting that covers the bedding in our hotelito in Sabalo, along the Rio San Juan.
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