Fluoride Program

This week we may have finally made some headway on a program that we have been interested in for quite awhile. For those who have been here, you have probably noticed the poor condition of peoples teeth and in particular those of the children between the ages of 5 and 18. We have seen many of these young people loose quite a few permanent teeth and it always seems to be the 2 front teeth. So we have been discussing with various dentists the benefits of a fluoride program. When we first looked into this it seemed the cost could be high and it could be a difficult process.



We have been reviewing this for last couple of months with the dentist that works with us, Marcos Lux, and he was involved in this type of program during his internship with the university and the government health system. They focused these programs in certain schools and have continued to see improvements in the children. Thus, we finally found a good time and a location to purchase the fluoride. It turns out that the cost will be extremely inexpensive, about $50 for a bottle of 1000 fluoride tablets. Then we only need 3 tablets for about 60 children. The kicker is the children must swish the treatment every week.



Since the cost is extremely low, we decided to run the idea by some churches and so far the interest has been tremendous. We have been trying to educate the churches and people in our clinics to focus on better oral hygiene and one of our promoters, Gaspar, has done some classes in his church and has also started to do these classes in some of our ABC Program (child sponsorship program) communities.



This provided us a great time to discuss a program with some of the churches and they are very interested in taking on this project themselves. So this last week we met with 2 communities who were going to start today - Mactzul 6 and Xepocol. We tallied the cost and it will be under $2 per month for most of the churches (many will be under $1) to be able to start using fluoride for each of the children in the church between the ages of 6 and 19. Each church will pay for a month worth of the pills and we will supply the fluoride once a month during our clinic visits. In turn, they will administrate the program with the children in the churches and keep a running log of the children that are participating in the program. Their goal is to reach 100% of the children in the church and not just the ABC sponsored children and the cost will be bore solely by the church. We also have some other churches discussing the program as well and we feel that we will have buy in by most of the churches.



The beauty of the program is it is inexpensive and relatively easy to administrate as no application is necessary as the child must swish the solution in their mouth for at least 5 minutes. I tried it and it is a little taxing, but there is not much flavor so not too bad.



Our goal is to reach all of the churches where we have the clinic ministry and then to reach all of the other churches in the area. Then, we have also spoken with the churches that our combined goal could be to eventually reach the school of the community. Lofty goals, but we think achievable as do the churches we have discussed this with.



Please pray for continued positive reception and that it can work out to be a long lasting program administered and promoted by the local churches.

Hospitality

Romans 12:13
Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

One thing that is done exceptionally well in the churches here is hospitality. No matter how little a family has, they always seem willing to share it with you. Today, we had lunch with Juan Quino's family--his mom, Manuela is especially gifted at making people feel at home. One of our students, Nick, is staying with them right now.We had great beef stew and plenty of tamalitos, with everyone gathered around tables they brought out to the covered porch.

Then we marched up the little foot path single file to the church building for worship services. It was good to see everyone, and our students seemed to be comfortable with their families.

After church, we marched back to the house and finished the afternoon with hot cups of pinol (ground dried corn steeped with cinnamon and sugar) and bread. We enjoyed good conversation and Roger McCown practiced his language skills on the family. It was a great time spent with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Su k'ax chawe? (What sickness do you have?)

The MET students are doing a great job here with us. They tried their hand at patient interviewing with the help of our health promoters and then presented the patient to me. I was impressed that they gleaned so much information from the patient and even wrote down the chief complaint and history in Spanish on the chart! 100 puntos (A+)! They were even tuned in to emotional and inter-relational issues.

Clinic was in Chuchipaca today and we were unfortunate enough to be following a 2-day clinic offered by another group in the area. Usually this means just a handful of people, but today we had 13 loyal patients who waited until today to seek care. We are thankful that people feel comfortable coming to us and pray that they will put the same trust in the church members.

Busy Day

After waking up to a strong earthquake this morning (actually the epicenter was off the coast of Honduras-- a 7.1!), we got to work fine without any evidence of local damage. All worked hard today with Josefina's team in San Jose and our team in Clinica Caris. We sent two to the hospital one with pneumonia and a diabetic with severe hyperglycemia and dehydration.
We always get started with a devotional and prayer as a team, and today Gaspar told us about a couple that he had been studying with several months ago, who showed up at services on Sunday and said they wanted to accept Christ and be baptized. He was previously involved with gangs and drinking heavily. She is from Mexico and recently moved into town where she doesn't speak the language (K'iche') but is very friendly. Be in prayer for them as they start their christian walk.
Our students are doing great. They are learning fast and are now vital signs experts. Here they are learning to use the glucometer.

"Tengo Hombre"

Well, we got our first group of visiting MET students up here in Chichi without any snags. Yesterday we took them out to Paxot II to move in with their host families. It's a real hoot, because it's become a tradition that we start at the first house then make our way to the next, carrying along a few family members from the each house we get until a huge group ends up at the final house. Everyone wants to see the students and the host families' reactions. It's kind of like a Posada procession at Christmas! Anyway, we ended up at Manuel Sut's house and we got to see his sister-in-law and her newborn (her third and only living baby). They seem fine and she told me she was very happy.

Today, all the students got their first taste of complete frustration as they tried out their limited but useful Spanish vocabulary on host families and patients who only speak K'iche'. One student (name withheld to protect the innocent), told the brothers at the church "tengo hombre" (I have a man) instead of tengo hambre (I'm hungry). That'll learn ya fast!

Here is a hilarious video to check out if you have ever endured the frustration of wanting to express yourself with limited Spanish skills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngRq82c8Baw

Good stuff!

Admin Day

And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. I Corinthians 12:28

Yesterday Kemmel and I stayed back from clinic to finish out the calendar for the year and make some progress on some education materials (You think sex education is hard to teach in English, try in Spanish--to be translated by one of your co-workers into K'iche').
The calendar has become a complex piece of work that has taken on a life of its own. Kemmel, whose is gifted in the administrative realm has devised a special hieroglyphic system that encompasses information about all of our whereabouts each day of the year. This includes our daily clinic schedules (Me, Josefina, Sheri and Marcos attending about 20 communities), scheduled days off and holidays, admin meetings, education activities, surgical weeks and who is out to attend those in Montellano, mobile medical groups in town, interns in town, visitors in town, and MET students, including how many are assigned to each team each day. Whenever there is a change, Kemmel dutifully reprints the calendars and passes them out to all staff, as we destroy any past copies. At first it was a challenge to learn the system, but now we pretty much have the hang of it. It's kind of like a palm pilot on paper. Gaspar says he needs extra copies for home and backpack so he can whip it out and answer any question from the communities!
We are blessed to have someone like Kemmel who helps us keep order in our crazy work lives. And praise be to God for giving us all different gifts.

They're Here!

Our students made it just fine and are tucked away with their families waiting to start language school. Welcome, Phillip, Nick, Lisa, Holly, Nathan, Esther and Katie. We look forward to our time together!