All the Community Health Workers of Region 9 and one from Region 8 congregated at the Bina Hill Institute for the weekend. Some arrived on Friday, but the majority had an early start to their Saturday to join us for eggs and delicious fresh-baked bread. We had a fun educating everyone with some of the knowledge that we had gained from medical school and residency. You realize that you did learn something worth imparting to others after the near decade of education! Unlike our own training though, we made the lectures as interactive as possible without the “pimping” and everyone seemed happy to participate.
In turn, we learned about some of the interesting differences in Guyana’s healthcare. Since patients do not have glucometers, one method of diagnosing/regulating diabetes is to see if ants are attracted to a patient’s urine because of the excess sugar spilling out of the kidneys. Fortunately, Pro-Natura was able to supply glucometers, lancets, and Accucheck sticks, which should improve the abilities of CHWs to diagnose diabetes more accurately! We were glad that we were able to help people for at least a short while, but struggled in responding to valid concerns raised about limited supplies. It is Pro-Natura’s hope to be able to replenish these supplies periodically, but sustainability and introduction of technology appropriate for that country is always an issue. It was heartbreaking to hear one of the CHWs say optimistically, “Once the battery runs out for the glucometer, perhaps we could fundraise to get new ones.”
Overall, the workshop was well received, and it was our pleasure to host this event. The CHWs complimented our simple explanations for complex concepts, and they were very grateful, as most had never had formal teaching on either topic. They expressed the hope that other doctors could come to Guyana do more education on topics like parasites, obstetrics, and anemia. We hope so, too; however, when presented with a quarter-sized lesion about 3mm deep on the heel of girl, who casually informed us that this had been inflicted by a piranha during a school picnic yesterday, we must admit that we have limited experience on certain endemic problems!
NB We're off to Karanambu for a couple of days, stay tuned for what I imagine will be some pretty awesome photos when we return.
