September was a month of very hard work and many big decisions in terms of planning for life after my time in Honduras ends. Starting with the first weekend in September, I began the process of applying to graduate schools to study a Doctor of Nursing Practice program with a pediatric specialty; ultimately become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. It was difficult for me to make the decision between Family Nurse Practitioner and Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, but my experience here has further made me realize that my passion is primarily working with children and I plan to continue to do so. Thus far, I have applied to 4 different programs across the country, and I’m thinking I will call that good for now. It was an exhausting process that consumed most of my free time the last month, and it is a huge relief to have hit the “submit button” on all those applications. It is funny to think that I will find myself back in a lecture hall in about a year. I am really excited and looking forward to returning to an academic setting, as it will have been three years since I graduated from University by the time I begin my Doctorate.
The second new development is that I have decided to stay here as a volunteer for NPH Honduras for a little bit longer. Instead of leaving in February, as originally planned, I will be here until mid-May. I am very excited about this opportunity because these extra three months will allow me to focus my work on some special health projects that are in need of more attention. This time frame of finishing up in May also allows me a few weeks to travel around Central America, and also return back to the States to enjoy the summer and much needed quality time with my family before moving off to Graduate school. So, if anyone has any interest in traveling around Central America with me during the end of May or early part of June, let me know.
A new volunteer nurse will come in January to take over my position supervising the External Clinic, and I will work with her until she is comfortable in her role. Then I will spend my time on projects such as helping with weekly surgeries with our visiting surgeon, increasing health education for the children in their Hogars or school, attempt to setup an ophthalmology clinic for our children with vision problems, and making sure our new electronic charting system that is in the plans to be promptly installed is working correctly. I have and continue to love my time in the community clinic, but I am also really looking forward to these last three months which will allow me the time to focus on enforcing or starting projects and programs that directly benefit the children here.
Time in hogar with my girls continues to be a joy. One of my favorite weekend activities with them is when we all go down to the little pond and they have the rare opportunity to be free, let loose, play, swim, roast hot dogs and just be kids. The girls are usually pretty persuasive and eventually get me into the water with them, in one way or another. Even though I have only been with this Hogar since February, I have been watching them mature from pre-teens to adolescents right before my eyes. Thank goodness most of them are still sweet and give me big hugs and love to scream “Heder” (my name in SpanishJ) when I come over in the evenings. On September 15, Honduras celebrated “Dia de la Bandera” which most closely resembles our 4th of July. The entire Ranch went to the next town over for a big parade. Every child was involved in the parade whether they were on a float, representing an animal from Olympiadas, twirling a baton, dancing, or playing an instrument in the band. They were all dressed up in school uniform or some sort of costume. I sadly was not there to witness this all myself, as I was stuck in the Hospital with an adorable 5 year old girl, but from the pictures that I saw it seems to be one of the biggest NPH events of the year. I will include pictures below.
In clinic happenings… we had a visiting doctor come for a day and offer Osteoporosis testing for our patients. It was exciting to make this service available and we had 60 people show up just for the test, plus the regular group of patients to see our Ranch doctor for a consult, and patients for the general laboratory. All this resulted in a gloriously jam-packed clinic, so full that I had difficulty maneuvering myself through the hallways. Coming up in one week, we will begin offering Gynecological exams for our female patients, and testing for cervical cancer. Many patients had been asking if and when we can make this important preventative healthcare measure available, so it is really exciting that it will finally become a reality.
