Our first week in Nebaj went reasonably well. We headed up to Nebaj on Tuesday, found the office where Lisa was to report to and eventually got led to the National Hospital. Tuesday was an easy day for Lisa as she just had a tour of the hospital since everyone else was traveling that day. On Wednesday Lisa met the Director of the Area of Salud and the Driector of the Hospital. She was also given her assignment which is to be the medical director over the community health office of Nebaj. Nebaj is part of what is called the Ixil Triangle made up of 3 major towns, Nebaj, Cotzal and Chajul. So Lisa will be managing all of the puestos de salud that are part of the major town, Nebaj.
Native Nebaj dress
Lisa will work with a nurse, who has been running the show for quite some time, and about 6 other health promoters or nurses in the main office. They oversee the health department functions in the area including medical clinics, sanitation licenses, evironmental health, immunizations, epidimiology, tuberculosis treatments, etc. The list is pretty extensive. She has been spending time with the head nurse and staff to get to know the system. We have learned quite a bit about how it works, but still have a long way to go.
I found a restaurant with wireless internet that is free so took the time to catch up on a number of items both personal and involving HTI. I also scouted out the town and hopefully found a more suitable place to live more long term. It is a hostel called Media Luna Media Sol which is somehow related to the restaurant and is also supposed to have wireless internet. We will see!
This is the hostel Media Luna Media Sol.
We came home Friday evening to be able to rest and take care of items around the house over the weekend. Next week is "feria" (fair) in Nebaj so Lisa has Monday off and we do not head back until Tuesday. As part of the work with the feria the community health office took friday afternoon to inspect the local vendors of food items to make sure they covered their food, etc. The problem is there is really no fee they can charge if they do not comply. All they can do is make a recommendation to the municipality to not renew their license the following year. Part of the problem here is there are not many people who inforce the rules.
Today we are taking it easy around the house, doing all the humdrum stuff, but it feels good!
For more info on the area of nebaj see http://www.nebaj.com/ or http://www.nebaj.org/.
Lisa will work with a nurse, who has been running the show for quite some time, and about 6 other health promoters or nurses in the main office. They oversee the health department functions in the area including medical clinics, sanitation licenses, evironmental health, immunizations, epidimiology, tuberculosis treatments, etc. The list is pretty extensive. She has been spending time with the head nurse and staff to get to know the system. We have learned quite a bit about how it works, but still have a long way to go.
I found a restaurant with wireless internet that is free so took the time to catch up on a number of items both personal and involving HTI. I also scouted out the town and hopefully found a more suitable place to live more long term. It is a hostel called Media Luna Media Sol which is somehow related to the restaurant and is also supposed to have wireless internet. We will see!
This is the hostel Media Luna Media Sol.
We came home Friday evening to be able to rest and take care of items around the house over the weekend. Next week is "feria" (fair) in Nebaj so Lisa has Monday off and we do not head back until Tuesday. As part of the work with the feria the community health office took friday afternoon to inspect the local vendors of food items to make sure they covered their food, etc. The problem is there is really no fee they can charge if they do not comply. All they can do is make a recommendation to the municipality to not renew their license the following year. Part of the problem here is there are not many people who inforce the rules.
Today we are taking it easy around the house, doing all the humdrum stuff, but it feels good!
For more info on the area of nebaj see http://www.nebaj.com/ or http://www.nebaj.org/.
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