Friday, March 19, 2010

Outreach Clinic, Student Nurses Playing Hookey, Wild Times at SEAM

This morning, I didn't get to yoga class or to the breakfast at the guest house as I went with Jana and Aneesh to visit an outreach clinic sponsored by St. Thomas hospital. Niki was supposed to have come with us, but she decided to return to the guest house after experiencing the bane of traveler's everywhere - diarrhea.

We arrived at St. Thomas Hospital just at the end of the student nurses' assembly in the courtyard. The students then climbed in the bus that was to take us to the rural clinic and we followed, along with the teachers. The bus took off and we were treated with the student nurses singing, "Happy Feast Day to You!" Apparently today is a feast day of some Catholic saint. The teachers were dressed in matching saris and the student uniforms were matching churidars. Although this was listed as a rural clinic, we never drove past where there was houses, streets, cars, and motorcycles. As we drove and I looked at the traffic, people, and houses and stores jammed one on top of each other, I thought of the effects of crowding a large amount of people in a confined land area. The result is the dirty, bustling, crazy mix called India.

Aneesh and Jana were dropped off at the clinic and I went with the student nurses to do home visits. The bus drove on aways further, then found a place to park. I got out with the student nurses and was adopted by one of the students to accompany her on her rounds. At our first house, no one was home. At the second house, the patient didn't wake up to our knock; the student said that patient worked at night. As we were walking, I asked what the health problems they saw in the community. She said the main problems were "hypertension and sugar." I asked if diabetes was a problem, to which she said, "No, diet isn't a problem. It's sugar."

At this point, I was taken to the clinic where Jana and Aneesh were working. At the clinic, people line up to see the doctor. They sign in, then see the doctor who sits at his desk - never moving. He writes a prescription, then the patients stand in another line to get their medicine. From what I saw, this involves some intramuscular injection in the butt. While needles aren't reused, syringes are reused over and over. It made me cringe, especiallly since in India they still aspirate every injection. Another interesting fact is that they do not use gloves. At all. Needles are always recapped and no sharps constainer exists.

This clinic also had a maternity ward. I got to visit with some mothers and babies. Most babies in India are born by cesarean section. The surgeon at the hospital said this was because the Hindu population believes in astrology and wants their babies to be born on auspicious days. When I asked my student nurse, she said that it was because the women didn't want the pain of childbirth. One good thing is that most women do breastfeed.

We were driven back to the section where we were supposed to be doing home visits. The teachers do not accompany the students, a fact of which the students take advantage. We stopped at a home where the students showed the family how to cook hygienically. However, against all the rules, they stayed and ate the dinner they helped cook, then stayed in the living room and watched TV. We were shown the roof of the house where we had a view of a distant temple. Climbing down the stairs, we say a small shop which had about a dozen people sitting down at a table making purses.

We finally left the food and TV and started walking down the street. One of the villagers invited us inside her house. So in we went. The woman peeled an apple for Aneesh, Jana, and I. Soon, the student nurses trooped in the house, the TV was turned on and we spent a long time watching the India version of MTV.

After a while, the students knew they had to meet their teachers at a square by the local well so we trooped out of the house. My student nurse begged us not to tell "the sisters", meaning their teachers. We promised silence.

At the square, the student sat down to eat their lunch (unknown to the teachers the students had already eaten) and to student. The students were either reading their books or were practicing their bandaging. The teachers sat with their backs turned towards the students. However, occasionally they would call a student to stand in front of them and would question her about her studies. We noticed that students learn by rote. Learning is by memorization only. Creative thought is not taught or encouraged.

After about an hour, we boarded the bus to travel back to the hospital. We arrived tired and hot, but we felt the trip was worth it. Little Stephen came to pick us up to transport us back to the guesthouse. We had a late lunch and were able to relax before our evening assignments. Before I went to my evening assignment, Sheeba (Stephen's wife) took me to the tailors to have my daughter-in-laws and my churidars made. I was glad to have Sheeba with me to interpret all the measurements I had gathered.

Tonight I went to SEAM. I was to tutor 8th grade boys in English. The lesson I learned was that since children learn by rote, introducing a creative project before the end of class is a disaster. After I orally quizzed them I gave them paper and crayons and told them to draw what they did that day - with the intention we would talk about their pictures. They could not do it as their learning does not include creativity. After tearing the crayon box to pieces, they then ran out the door and disappeared. Can I say now that you could not pay me enough to be a teacher in my life in the U.S.???

Our evening assignments completed, we made our way back to the guest house for dinner. We plan to spend this weekend in Pondicherry, so last minute instructions were given. Stephen bought us beer (he said that he would buy it for us as it would not look right if volunteers bought alcohol), so we are having a relaxing evening unwinding from our work week.

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