Doctors' Visit 2016

The doctors were back this year for a week and a half. I sat down with Hermana Vilma before they came to discuss maximizing my free hours at school so that I could help translate. “No Benjamín,” she told me, “this is an important use of your skills. I'll take care of the classes, you go translate.”

So an hour after I arrived in Andahuaylillas post-Qoyllurritti hike, I made my way over to the parish and the makeshift clinic to help translate. It was a better experience than last year. I think the group was better prepared than they were last year. I spent a lot of my time translating for two dentists who were performing extractions. They were especially good to me and taught me some useful tricks.*

No trip is perfect, and once again the group was not well organized when it came to the logistics of things like food. The parish staff came to me plenty of times asking what the deal was with the doctors' next meal.

My favorite day of working with the doctors was Saturday May 28. I went with a small group of them to a rural community called Churubamba. Churubamba is located on the back of Qoriorko, the mountain that I climbed with Lauren LINK. It's about 90 minutes of driving to get there. We rode in the back of a small truck. In Churubamba we only saw a few patients, but spent a lot of time with each one. Every single visit involved Quechua-Spanish-English translation. The last patient we saw was an 81 year old woman with terrible teeth. The dentist with us wanted to pull them all out, but the lady insisted that only one tooth was bothering her. After 15 minutes of cajoling she agreed to let the dentist pull the three worst teeth if, and only if, it didn't hurt when the first of them came out.

Fear of the dentist is a pretty common thing. But I've never seen anyone so afraid during dental work. It was clear from her teeth that the person who usually attended to her teeth was better at breaking them than he was at pulling them out cleanly. I can only assume that she'd experienced a great deal of pain at the hands of “dentists.” It was a wonder she even allowed the dentist with us to look at her mouth at all. After many tears all three teeth were out.

Working with the doctors gives JVs a chance to see a different aspect of normal life here. Healthcare is definitely substandard. The local clinic has been doctorless for the last month. The national health insurance definitely pays for mammograms but no one was sure if it would pay for cancer treatments. It's also a good source of reflection on the different ways to serve – a 2 week clinic is very different than 2 years of living here. I don't expect that any international service I do in the future will be as long term as JVC has been, so it's important to think about other models of service.

But most importantly working with the doctors is another way to serve. It is a way to serve people besides my students. It is a way to hear and validate people's pain. It is a way to help some people find relief from their pain. It is a way to demonstrate my apostolic availability to the people of Andahuaylillas.

*Did you know you can make a mouthwash with a 1 (Hydrogen Peroxide): 2 (Water) solution? They suggested to a man with inflamed gums.