Clinic report and prayer request

Today our clinic was down to 3 "staff" members. Josh was working triage/intake; I was working assessment/diagnosis; and Andy was working pharmacy. This was a bit of a challenge as many come, and it challenges us with a FULL team. We usually see 50 patients each clinic day, but we knew we wouldn't be able to to see that many, so we only handed out 40 numbers. As we were packing up, a young 10 year old girl, Cathi, came into the clinic. I stopped to check her out. She had been to the hospital, and returned with a diagnosis of asthma. So, her mom wanted to see if I could give her an inhaler for her asthma. The problem when someone gives me a diagnosis, is I tend to focus on that. However, something just didn't seem right.

Warning - geek speak: After a thorough assessment: weight loss, severe cough x 1 year, fever, night sweats, wheezing, and crackles bilateral, mild fever in the afternoon. I did an arm circumfrence on her, and she is WAY below the "norm". Many other members of her family have similar symptoms. Her mother did take her in for a sputum culture, it came back negative for TB. However, given her history and assessment - I'm almost positive this is what she has.

So now for the next step. It's a LONG treatment, and all of her other family members need to be treated - so I'm trying to research and see if La Ceiba's health department has some sort of TB treatment and I'll follow up with her and her family. This is a LONG process, and I would ask that you pray for Cathi, her family, and how I may be involved in this.

Cleaning up after clinic


Some new girls from the community we've never met - GREAT way to meet more people!