Today the group completed a second day of work in all three sites--Ayacucho, and the surrounding towns of Quinua and Huanta. The excursion to Quinua was especially fruitful and interesting. The day began with the Director of the AsociaciónVidas Community Health Center, Raquel Yupanqui, leading some members of the community in songs of prayer and welcoming the Ayacucho Mission team.
Dr. Chris Hougen developed a system in which two sets of medical students and translators took the basic health history from each patient, allowing him to move from one patient to another, complete the examination, and prescribe the appropriate treatment. Medical students Ryan Campbell and Ashley Colter set up a smooth-running field pharmacy, and the Center's staff provided health education and instruction on using the medications for the team. Petra Duran and Deisy Nava led the diabetes screening effort, and nurse practitioner Tammy Tran tested patients with gastritis for H. pylori, a particularly problematic bacteria in the region, to help assess the best way to address the health needs of this community.
At the end of the day, over 65 patients were examined and treated, and the team was treated by the Center's kitchen to a favorite meal of the Ayacucho region called puka picante. In addition to the full day's work at the Regional Hospital in Ayacucho and in Huanta, the work in Quinua, made possible by the open-armed welcome by AsociaciónVidas, capped off another successful day on the Mission.
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