Global Health: Internships Week 2

Hola amigos! After a weekend of rest Shana, Cara, Spencer, and us, Heather and Elyse were ready to get back to our internships and learn more about health care in Oaxaca! Shana, Cara, and Spencer returned to the HIV/AIDS Health Clinic in san bartolo coyotepec about 20 minutes away. Shana and Spencer continued working on the promotion and education side of things by handing out condoms and information packets around the city and creating "memes" that educated the public on the importance of proper condom use. Cara worked alongside a nutritionist in the clinic advising patients on their diet and how to stay healthy with HIV.

One of the Meme's Shana and Spencer made

Heather and one of the horses!

Heather continued her internship at Fundacion Oaxaqueña Equinoterapia working with physically and mentally challenged children and adults to improve their gross motor and behavioral skills through horse therapy. 

Lauren on the right lecturing to the midwifery
 students at Luna Llena

Heather and Elyse at the Health Clinic

Elyse was able to attend two classes given by her mentor, Lauren, who is a midwife here in Oaxaca. Lauren is originally from California but moved down to Oaxaca 12 years ago and hasn't been able to leave (something we can all understand)! She now practices as a partera (midwife), promotes midwifery and women's health education, and give classes at the only midwifery school in Oaxaca, Luna Llena. Tuesday's class was from 4-7 and talked about the first physical exam given to expectant mothers from head to tow. After the lecture the midwifery students and Elyse split up into pairs and practiced performing an examination! The second class on Friday was an overview of STI's and interpreting labs. The students at Luna Llena come from all over Oaxaca and some were even from out of state. The girls meet for one week every six weeks for classes and in three years are certified parteras. They were all extremely friendly and welcoming to Elyse... as most people are here! 

On Monday and Wednesday Heather and Elyse visited a public health clinic near Xoxocotlan. On Monday after traveling about a half hour on bus we made it to our destination and were quickly put to work on creating a poster promoting vaccinations for perros (dogs) to prevent the transmission of rabies from dogs to humans. We were quite surprised with our artistic skills and were proud to hang it up in the waiting room of the clinic! We then spent the rest of the day following around a couple of med students and observed as they gave a lecture on preventing and curing diarrhea to some of the people waiting for their appointments. Wednesday was an even more exciting day.  Elyse and others spent the day walking to the houses of pregnant or postpartum mothers near the clinic. The purpose was to inform these women of the risks of pregnancy, specifically preeclampsia, and warning signs of when there is a need to head to the hospital, all in hopes of lowering the number of preventable maternal deaths. We visited four houses in total and then headed back to the clinic to observe pediatric vaccinations before we jumped on the bus back home.

On Friday we again all met up for a delicious Oaxacan comida at Oliver's brother-in-laws restaurant to debrief the week and all left with very large food babies. Once again a successful week for the Global Health track! 

Hope you enjoyed!

Elyse and Heather