Visiting the Hypertension Group (well sort of)

Buenas,

Today we saw the opening of the clinic and the first patients that were admitted, it was a small child with tonsillitis. After we left, we headed to the houses of individuals in the hypertension group for Punta Ocote and the surrounding municipalities. We brought with us una promotora Christine. She is a local health promoter trained to advise the community on health related subjects such as disease and general hygiene. The promotoras are the key contacts in the community through which we are able to implement our public health interventions. We met with one man and his family deep in the woods whose house did not have electricity. Next we set out to meet with other members of the hypertension group to remind them about the group meeting on Wednesday. On our way to meet with one of the members, our truck got stuck...in the middle of a river! Yess a river we tried pushing and everything but the truck sunk deeper and deeper. Luckily a man named Jose came along on his horse and helped us push...to no avail. Then he told us that he had oxen and that he would come back with them to help us out. He did...have you ever seen Ox pull a truck out of a river? Well you soon will the pictures will be uploaded soon. While the ox were very strong, they were clumsy and had great difficulty pulling the truck out of the sandy barge. I guess word spreads quickly in the aldeas (small towns). Soon a man Hector and another man along with a elderly women and her 8 or 9 children showed up and came to our rescue. We abandoned the Ox idea and opted for raw man power instead. Using a large tree trunk as a jack and the arms of many people we lifted the truck and were able to place planks of wood underneath the tires. Using this method we were able to get out of the river and onto the opposite bank. After about 3 hours the ordeal was over! We drove back exhausted from the truck lifting episode and decided to return another day...on foot...or hopefully horseback o yeaa. David, Hannah, and I were able to walk around Punta to acquaint ourselves with the community. We made a quick stop at the internet cafe (where I am now) before we're going to set out again. Tonight I am going to continue working on my Walking group intervention and develop a presentation for Rita, who we are meeting with tomorrow. Rita is the Health Director of the province of Yoro, sorta like a big deal. Wish me luck, hopefully she likes our ideas. Tonight we are eating once again with Ramon and Jessica and their family...should be muy delicioso. If anyone following has any questions or comments, commenting is open to the public and anyone can post on my blog so enjoy! Saludos, Marc