Week Two Beginnings

      It’s been a strong start for week two in Piura. On Sunday, we visited Madre Del Redentor, the girl’s orphanage. The compound is surrounded by dirt roads and heaps of garbage, but inside, it is a home. The minute we exit the truck, girls are by our sides, grabbing our hands. I am led to the garden, where the girls place a red flower behind my ear, a welcome gesture. We were simply enchanted with the performances the girls prepared for us, traditional dances hailing from the jungles of Peru. Our new friends were so generous and kind, and we hope to return here soon.

With Juliana and Elise

            We began our aggregate assignment yesterday, a large project focusing on one population group. We chose Vaso De Leche, the women’s group, and we are enthusiastic about our plans. We must collect data about the group and then produce nursing diagnoses. We are to write a 20 page paper on this and present to the entire aggregate and parish staff. It’s going to be a lot of work, and it is certainly an adjustment having schoolwork along with daily clinicals. It looks like we have our work cut out for us!

            Today, I got my first experience with working in the hospice. The other girls in the group were able to work here last week while I visited homes, so this was very new. It’s difficult to come up with words to describe the work we do here, because each day and patient is different.

An Average Hospice Room

Today was a concentration on wound care. Some patients here are quad and paraplegics, and have developed severe pressure ulcers. For those in the medical field, they range from stage 3 to unstageable. Unfortunately, this means that they may never heal. One particular patient, Oswaldo, has seven bedsores, three completely covering his backside. We try as hard as we can to care for his wounds and change the dressings quickly, because he has to have this done everyday. It is heart wrenching to see him in this situation, but one of our jobs as nurses is to put on a smile and act empathetically.

            For the rest of the week, we will be rotating in the hospice, ER, and village homes. It’s time to get to work on our project this week, and hopefully the finished product will be successful.