Leadmon and Hannah
Olivia Darby, Caroline
ade Translator
Smith and Global Brig
ract with Nicaraguan
inte
ero
Rom
siel
Mas
as community.
patients in the Las Lim
Pho to by Blair Dowler.
WVU student Carolin
e
Leadmon teaches a
child to count to 10 in
English in La Corona.
Pho to by Blair Dowler.
Medical and Dental Brigades
Our work began right away. As a group, we provided nearly
$110,000 in medical and dental supplies, which we organized
to facilitate the medical and dental clinics in the communities
of Las Limas and La Corona.
When we arrived in the communities, Nicaraguans from
near and far were lined up to see the physicians and dentists.
Many walked an hour or more to make it to the clinics so they
could receive much-needed medications—things as simple as
ibuprofen. Mothers carried their children for miles so they
could receive check-ups, some for the first time.
Over four days, our students worked with 14 medical pro-
fessionals from Nicaragua to serve 2,652 patients at the med-
ical and dental clinics, a new Global Brigades record for one
university during one individual brigade. The patients went
through several stations within the clinics, including triage,
consultation, dental, gynecological, pharmacy and charla,
which is health education. In each section, students were as-
signed to work with the medical professionals. Additionally,
an electronic file was created for each patient to facilitate their
future visits to Global Brigades clinics.
For the first two days of the medical and dental clinics, I
worked in the community of Las Limas helping ensure the
patients made it from triage to consultation. I was able to
interact directly with the Nicaraguans, and it was humbling
to see that even though they may have walked for hours to
the clinics and waited in long lines, they did not complain and
always responded with kindness and smiles. Through these
visits, we saw numerous patients with parasitic and bacterial
infections, respiratory illnesses and skin infections, which can
be largely attributed to their poor living conditions and lack
of access to clean water.
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