Day 3 - Home Visits

This morning I woke up and went on to the Department of Health for Washington state to find out that I AM A REGISTERED NURSE! It's for real! I'm now legally dangerous... ;)

Today we did home visits...we went through communities of Cecco, Bentley Bay, the Bight, and others. I'm sure I just butchered those spellings. What do we do on home visits? Mostly assessments, handing out the weekly meds, and just chatting. I was amazed (and humbled) by how simply the people on Helene live - no running water or electricity or "real" stores. The first person we visited was Esley. He's a paraplegic (paralyzed from waist down) who we were able to assist by emptying his foley, doing some passive ROM, doing a urinalysis to check for infection (leukocytes and RBCs were positive) and check for pressure ulcers. He's a neat guy who makes creative jewlery and can get himself around in a wheelchair. We tried to visit Lowell, but he wasn't home. We got to see Ms. Nella, the "everybody's grandma" type of person who has hypertension but doesn't believe in taking her beta blockers. At least she takes the HCTZ. We also saw Ms. Indiana, Joy, Mr. Lee, and another guy who just had an appendectomy after the appendix had ruptured. Mr. Lee is the oldest on Helene, at age 94 (in a few days), he is doing remarkably well (still walking and his pressure is WNL). It was great to meet him, learn about his family (15 kids and over 100 grandkids!), pray for him, and be prayed for by him. We also talked to people along the way, the most memorable being Mr. James, who gave me a warm welcome and a kiss on the cheek. I think He's the 2nd oldest person on the island.

Right now I'm feeling like there's so many names I wish I could remember, so many meds to keep track of, and I think I'm still quite tired with the cultural adjustment. But, overall, I could not be more content than I am right here, right now. I want to soak it all in before it's gone. I had one of those, "I can't believe I am on a remote Honduran island, interacting with such interesting people" moments today while I was with Ms. Indiana. I wish I could just freeze such moments to re-live them later.

I have so much to thank God for!