dominican republic!

I'm DONE!  More on that later, but that's why I've finally got a blog post up for the first time in nearly two months.

On March 2, I woke up at some ungodly hour in order to be at Lindsay's by 4:15.  Holly and Meg showed up and we piled all our stuff into my car - it was very full with four people, two boxes of crutches, four walkers, one bag of medical supplies, and THEN our individual luggage.  We got to our prepaid parking, dropped off my car, and took the shuttle to the airport.  We waited around for at least one more classmate to show up - we had four people and nine bags.  One bag per person was included in the ticket, a second bag was $40, a third bag was $150.  As soon as Michael showed up, we checked in for our flight, Caroline showing up before we had even all gotten in line.

We flew off to Miami where we met up with Lilly, then continued on to Santo Domingo.  As we got in the line to pay our entrance fee to the country, I found out my wallet was missing.  The last I'd used it was to pay for the bag of medical supplies back in Atlanta.  Hypotheses include leaving it on the counter in Atlanta, dropping it somewhere, or possibly having it stolen in Miami since my backpack was found open at one point while still on my back.  Thankfully I do my best to minimize my losses before I start - I only lost one credit card, my driver's license, and some cash (all my cash for the trip).  Thanks to Lindsay, I was able to keep my small expenses covered while I was there and just pay her back when we returned.

on the flight and in the santo domingo airport.
bottom right photo (l-r) lilly, caroline, holly, lindsay, meg, michael

Once we got through customs and immigration, we headed to the arrivals area and waited for the direct Delta flight to arrive, carrying Dr. Pullen - our professor, Lucia - the other licensed PT, and Angela - our remaining classmate from our team of eight.  We piled into a minibus with all our luggage - the back row of seats was completely full to the roof, plus the space behind the seat and a lot of the floor space.  It was about two hours - most of us slept for at least part of the drive since we were so tired from getting up early.  We made a stop in the middle where snacks could be purchased - those plantain chips are amazing!  We arrived at our destination, San Francisco de Macoris, and moved into Rosa Burgos' house for the week.  The seven female students shared three bedrooms upstairs, while Michael, Lucia, and Dr. Pullen all had bedrooms downstairs.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner before collapsing into our beds for the night.

The next morning we went right to work, heading out to a clinic for the morning.  Shortly after we got there, Dr. Pullen was summoned to go visit a family in the area.  She took Lilly with her since it was related to public health and Lilly is getting the dual DPT/MPH degree.  We watched them head out, then through the window, we suddenly realized they were getting into a car!  They looked a little unsure before they got in as well - clearly they were not expecting a car ride.  We realized then that it might be seven students and just one PT for the rest of the morning.  We were given two spaces in which to work, so Lucia took four people upstairs with her while three of us muddled along as a team downstairs.  Michael, Lindsay, and I together managed to evaluate seven patients that morning, as best I can tell from the notes I have.  One patient was referred to see a doctor, while we sent the others home with exercise programs.  Their complaints ranged from wrist, shoulder, knee, and ankle pain to neck problems and hand tremors.  Dominican Spanish is very hard to understand - they drop a lot of consonants, slur a bit, and speak VERY fast, so the three of us pooled our bits of understanding to piece together each patient's story.

clockwise from top: street view from the clinic; babies are common motorcycle passengers;
when school let out, the street was no longer for cars; the sign on the clinic

We returned to Rosa's for lunch, then went to the hospital for a tour in the afternoon.  We were introduced to a few important-looking people and shown all the different wards in the hospital.  Unfortunately, I understood a lot more from the signs on the doors than I did from the spoken descriptions!  That evening we took a trip to La Sirena.  It's a huge department store, sort of a Dominican version of Super Target with a greater emphasis on groceries.

clockwise from top: sunset from rosa's roof; hospital main entrance;
walking through la sirena; lilly with the public health vehicle - an ambulance

The next morning we went to a different clinic.  This time we split into two groups of four students - one group went out in the community with Dr. Pullen while the rest of us stayed in the clinic with Lucia to treat patients.  We saw a total of 9 patients that morning, treating seven of them for various conditions including leg pain, old fractures, and  chronic stroke.  After lunch back at Rosa's we went out into the community again where we delivered a few of the donated canes we brought with us to patients we had seen in the morning.  After those deliveries were done, we had a tour of the facility next to the hospital, a private clinic with an extensive therapy setup including pediatrics, occupational therapy, and speech therapy as well as a huge selection of modalities including electrical stimulation, ultrasound, and whirlpool treatments.

tuesday morning's clinic including lindsay and meg working with a patient,
a random photo of lilly, and the middle picture is rosa's house with the minibus

tuesday afternoon - delivering canes in the community
and another young motorcycle passenger

Wednesday saw us off to another clinic.  We split into the same two groups and the four of us who worked in the clinic Tuesday went out into the community.  We were able to visit four homes, walking up and down steep rocky dirt roads to get there - highlighting the helplessness of these patients who were almost completely homebound due to their location.  Conditions we saw included severe birth defects, old motorcycle injuries, a stroke, and the results of a head injury at 6 months.

visiting the community of las hermanas mirabal (formerly alto manhattan)

In the afternoon, we had been asked to perform screenings at the private clinic we had visited the day before for children to determine whether they needed physical, occupational, or speech therapy.  Since the screening day had been planned before they ever knew we would be there, and we as students would be able to do nothing but watch, our professor vetoed that idea and instead directed us to el Museo de las Hermanas Mirabal.  I'm not going to go into the history, but here is a link to the Wikipedia page on the Mirabal sisters.  Suffice to say it was very interesting, and inspired to me to buy and read the book In the Time of the Butterflies as soon as I got home.  We also visited the "Peace Park" near the museum.  It was filled with lots of signs with messages and artwork promoting peace.

wednesday afternoon.  group shot - front row: rosana, angela, lucia, me
back: lilly, lindsay, caroline, michael, holly, meg, our guide, carmen, dr. pullen, rosa

Thursday morning we were expecting to go to the hospital to watch Dr. Pullen give a lecture to nursing students.  We were confused because we were leaving at 8 and the lecture wasn't till 11.  When we were dropped off at the hospital's outpatient clinic, we learned we were treating a bunch of patients first!  Had we known that, we would have brought along our supplies.  As it was, we made do with what we had and saw 20 patients between us, and made it to the lecture late.

caroline, lindsay, and i tend to get carsick - we took the front row seat daily in the minibus
rosa's parrot lulu made funny noises sometimes, and could get out of her cage! 

That afternoon we had some downtime so there were some workouts including yoga and Pilates.  Rosa's granddaughter Keylin was adorable as she joined it, mimicking as best she could.  That night, Manuel, one of our bus drivers, took most of the crew (everyone under 30 chose to go) out dancing.  I heard it was a lot of fun, but painfully loud so I'm glad I chose not to go.

keylin doing pilates with lilly; meg and michael yoga posing; and girls ready to dance

Friday we were taken to Playa Grande, an incredibly beautiful beach on the northern coast of the island.  We spent a wonderfully relaxing day lying in the sun, playing in the water, and eating delicious food.

there was a rare halo around the sun that day

Saturday morning we headed back to Santo Domingo for our flights home.  We had a fulfilling four days serving needy people in San Francisco de Macoris, followed by a day to recover on the beach.  I think it's fair to say most of us were still processing the experience for weeks afterward.

this was crazy - we were stuck in traffic and there were vendors between lanes,
they just sort of leaned sideways to allow motorcycles to pass them