ADDENDUM: What Do Expats Do Besides Lie in a Hammock

Last week I blogged on the Emergency Response Team the expats in Trujillo are forming.   Keep in mind that there is no Fire Rescue here in our area.  There was enough interest  in a list of needed supplies that I made a list and decided to post it here and on Facebook. 

Everything on the list is easily available in the US and Canada, and almost non-existent here.  Most of it is available at CVS, Walgreen's, Walmart and Target. Store brands are good.

NEEDED

Absorbent dressings, small, medium, large
Ace bandages, 2", 3", 4"
Alcohol Large bottle
     1. Alcohol in amounts of over 2-4 oz not available
Alcohol pads
Band-aids, all sizes
Benadryl
BP cuff
Burn ointment
Cervical collars, all sizes
Cotton balls, large
Cotton swabs
Duct Tape
     1. To secure victim to backboard
     2. To secure dressings in torrential rain
Eyepads, gauze
Flashlights
Fluorescent rechargeable lantern
     1. Replacement batteries not available
Hand sanitizer
Magic Markers
Pen lights
Rescue blanket, Mylar
Road flares
Rope
Rubber tourniquets
Sanitary Napkins, the old type with tails
     1. Excellent pressure dressing; does not require tape
Splints, padded if possible.
Sports tape, all sizes
Sterile gauze dressings, any size
     1. Larger amounts at lower price in Medical supply houses
Sterile gloves, all sizes, Non Latex
Stethoscope
     1. Store brand @ pharmacy good and cheaper
Tampons, small, unscented
     1. Splint for broken nose; pressure dressing for broken teeth
Tape, all sizes, non-allergenic if possible
Tongue blades/Popsicle sticks 
     1.  Splints for fingers and small children
Trauma scissors
     1. Uniform shops
Triple antibiotic salve
Walkie-Talkies
     1. Cell phone service not available in remote areas
Water-proof bags/backpacks
     1. Most disasters happen during rainy season, i.e mudslides,
         collapsed buildings, flooded rivers and streams
.

As an after thought, if you have access to medical facilities or medical training facilities, check and see if they are replacing their CPR and/or IV teaching aids/manikins.  We will gladly take the used ones.


We are not paramedics, we are just a group who want to give back to our community.  We do have nurses, doctors, dive masters and volunteers with the medical brigades in our group, and lots of people willing to learn basic First Aid.

What Do Expats Do Beside Lie in a Hammock?

People ask what it is we expats do, besides lie in a hammock drinking rum punch from a coconut shell dressed up with a little umbrella.   Well,  my group  in Trujillo is  organizing a totally volunteer Emergency Response Team to mobilize in case of natural or man-made disasters. We have an amazing group of medical professionals, paramedical people, and volunteers.    We have an understanding with two local doctors, who will help when needed and who will act as liaison between the patient and the various hospitals and specialists who might be needed.  We are not connected to the government in any way. 

We are doing this, in part, in self-defense. You see, there is no Fire Rescue here, and calling the police is most often an exercise in futility. 

We are  in the organization phase, but we are already putting together a list of supplies we need; we have set up a telephone tree; and one of our members is in the process of setting up a basic first aid class, a basic CPR class, and IV maintenance class.  The first aid and CPR classes are self-explanatory. The IV class is so if someone needs to be transported to another city we can send someone in the ambulance who knows how to protect the IV.  Remember, there are no paramedics in Trujillo.

So, why am I telling you this?  Well, we are not the rich expats who live in gated communities with armed guards all around.  We are more the middle-class type, or the beach bum type, with not a lot of money, but a lot of talent that can be used.   We are making our own backboards and splints.  We are learning ways to improvise supplies to which me might not have access. We are considering whether or not we can purchase at least one first responder kit (we need three).  We need other basic supplies, like ambu bags, trauma scissors, bandages and other supplies that are difficult to find here in Honduras, but are discarded everyday in ERs everywhere.

To that end, dear readers, I am asking that those of you who have contacts within the medical field or in the business of medical supply, please ask around or ask if there is anything usable you can donate.  If so, let me know, and I will make the arrangements for shipping.   On your next visit to CVS, Walgreen's,  or Walmart, if you see something on sale, like the store brand of NeoSporin, burn gel, absorbent bandages,  sanitary pads, tampons, disposable diapers, etc.,  buy a package or two, and  help us get started.

Other things we do:  We volunteer with medical and dental brigades; we teach in the local private schools; we teach English; we mentor children.  And, some of us also find time to lie in a hammock with a cold drink and a good book, and soak up God's beauty.

We are blessed.

.  

  

  

We Need Jose

Dear friends, family and other followers of the view, we really need Jose to continue working.  The week before Christmas Macho Man had to tell Joche to take the time between Christmas and New Years to find another job, because we probably would not be able to pay him after the First.

Joche reminded MM that the first time he asked for a job, MM turned him down.  The second time he came and asked for a job, MM said yes, but told him it would only be for 3-4 months.  It has been a little over 2 years.  He didn't fuss or say anything but, "Maestro, you gave me a job for 2 years." The unemployment rate in Honduras is between 30-40%  

Well, we found a little extra money for this week and next, but that's about it.  I just realized I will be getting a small adjustment to my Social Security benefit, and we won't be paying rent at the condo.  The electric bill should go down a little, because the wiring here is up to code.  but the fact remains, there isn't enough to keep him on full time.  About the best we can do is 2 weeks a month.

Two weeks a month is not enough  We need Joche.  Macho Man isn't as young as he use to be, and he needs help with the heavy lifting, the woodworking, the concrete work, and yesterday, the mopping of floors at the condo.  Joche is here from can to can't.  Sometimes I even wish he didn't come quite so early.

Joche needs us.  He has a wife and a very young toddler to support.  The salary we have paid him has allowed him to provide at least the basics for his family.  As previously written, he has been an avid learner, a true apprentice, and he will take the knowledge with him from now own.  His help is invaluable.

The problem is, how to pay him.  I have faith the money will be there as long as we need it.  On the other hand, I believe in prayer, and I believe the more people who pray the more effective the prayers.  So, all you  Prayer Warriors, please pray that we can be creative enough to see a way  to provide the means to continue as we have been.

We are blessed.

Casa de Sueños - Quick Update

A friend reminded me yesterday that I had not posted anything about the house since October, and he was right, October 22nd to be exact.  It's not that there was nothing to post.  Things were just going so slow that you could not really see the day-to-day progress.

Then everything seemed to just happen all at once.  It had been MY goal to move in before Christmas Eve.  Note the emphasis on the word MY.  Macho Man didn't want to pin moving to a definite date, but I decided I wanted to have Christmas in my own house.  So, I just started packing things up and getting ready to go.

Well, I was ready, MM said he was ready, but the house, not so much.  We moved in with the kitchen sink set up on concrete blocks, but we do have hot water. The windows have no glass in them, just screens and security bars.  So what's new?  We haven't had actual windows in over two years.  We have two functioning bathrooms, as far as toilets go,  and the shower and tub are working in the master bath, but no bathroom sinks in place.  Okay, so I am using the kitchen sink to wash my face and brush my teeth. 

There are no kitchen cabinets  or bathroom vanities, but that's not new either.  The baths in the condo have a mirror over the sink, but no vanity; and the kitchen has no cabinets or counter space, just one shelf over the stove and one over the sink.  Here I have a big pantry.and for the present a full sheet of plywood set up on two sawhorses. doubles as counter space and kitchen island.

I have plenty of room to work in, so I did.  We had our first Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) at  Casa de Sueños, and not one person complained about the kitchen not being finished.  We just ate and had a good time.  Nobody fussed because there are no doors in the master bathroom, just a shower curtain over the opening.  Nobody went into the bedroom when someone else was in there.  

We did have a Christmas tree, the first in two years, and Christmas decorations.  Two of the nieces helped me decorate, and they did a great job. I almost hate to take it down after the 6th. Christmas trees in Latin countries stay up until after Three Kings Day, or Epiphany.  New Year's Eve the family here in Trujillo came up and spent a little while.  The balcony is a great place to congregate.  It is big enough for all  ages to find a place and enjoy each other while still being together.  Ditto for my birthday yesterday.  The only thing missing was the family from Tocoa.

Now it is time to get back to business.  Right now my living room and bedroom look like the storeroom at Goodwill or the Salvation Army Store.  We have boxes everywhere, and the answer to  "Where is _________?" is still, "In a box somewhere.".  The good news is, by tomorrow afternoon everything will be out of the condo and into the house.  Then Friday we will spend the day cleaning the condo so we can return the keys.

So, family and friends, we are in the new house, and it is ours.  It might still be a work in progress, but it is our work in progress.  Best of all, it took us two years to get here, but there is no mortgage, IT IS OURS!.

Oh. where are the pictures?  In the camera.  Where is the camera?  All together now....The camera is in a box, somewhere.  When I find it there will be a new profile picture.  It will be the view from our balcony.

We are truly blessed.

Just What Does a Cold Front Mean?

Yesterday when I got up, it was cold..  Well, it was cold for us, about 70 F. with a WCF of about 60 F.  I was going to write something fluffy, like about how I could wear one of my bulky sweaters, which I did.  About how I was wearing sock and shoes and not flip flops, which was true. About putting an afghan on the bed and letting Chico sleep with us, which we did.  Then I got serious and decided to write about a cold front means in Central America.

A cold front combined with a tropical depression, combined with the rainy season in Central America means rain, lots and lots of rain.  It has been raining for 8 days, and is suppose to continue over the weekend.  One community in Honduras reported 36" of rain in 24 hours.  That is roughly a quarter of the normal rainfall for the year on the North Coast falling in one day.  Here in Trujillo we had a tourist who died yesterday when a flash flood hit the car she was in, washing her out to sea.  Her body was found today on the other side of the bay near the port.

The Rio Cristales (Crystal River) is normally a fairly benign river.  It is where most of our water come from.  A couple of weeks ago we crossing the river and noted it was almost dried up, explaining why we had no water pressure.   This was Rio Cristales yesterday

                                                           Courtesy Trujillo Noticias

                                                         Courtesy Trujillo Noticias

If you remember, last year the main bridge between Trujillo and the rest of the world was washed away.  It just reopened  last month.  Puente La Burra spans the Rio Aguan and in  normal times it looks like this.

                                                         Courtesy Trujillo Noticias

Yesterday it looked like this.

                                                          Courtesy Trujillo Noticias

The Mayor of Trujillo was out yesterday surveying the situation at La Burra, and this is what he found.  The road leading up to the bridge apparently was not built on an adequate substrata, and is washing away.  Remember this was just opened last month.

                                                         Courtesy Trujillo Noticias

                                                          Courtesy Trujillo Noticias

In the rest of the country a cold front/tropical depression looks like this:

                                                            Courtesy La Prensa HN

A family's home is destroyed.

                                                                                         Courtesy La Prensa HN

A road falls into a ravine, cutting off the countryside from food and other supplies.  These people will have to walk pig trails to get to work, school, or just to buy food.

                                                            Courtesy La Prensa HN

Communities are cut off with bridges washed away, and who knows when this bridge will be replaced.

                                                                                          Courtesy El Heraldo HN

An official from COPECO, the Honduran equivalent of FEMA, on horseback assessing the damage in an area in southern Honduras.  The man in the canoe is delivering potable water, food and baby diapers.  

                                                            Courtesy La Prensa HN

Unlike FEMA, COPECO uses whatever works to get food and other supplies to victims in a timely manner.

Another tropical depression is waiting off the coast to move in when this one leaves.

How were we directly affected?

The bodega is flooded, and the boxes are leaning precariously as the ones on the bottom get soaked.  We will have to repack, but that's okay, because we can use this opportunity to get rid of some stuff we don't really need and check for termite damage.

The rain keeps falling and is so loud at times we can't hear the TV, or each other.

There is no view from the balcony, or at least not the usual view.  That should be the sun shining off the bay.

We have a dry, warm place to sleep.  We have clean food and potable water.  We have electricity for now.  Chico thinks he is in heaven, because he can get on the bed, something that is usually a big no-no.

We are blessed!

We're Making Progress - Moving Day is Closer Every Day

We have reached a point where you can see progress.  I like to brag about the workmanship, because although it is exasperating to live with a perfectionist, it can be an asset when you are building the last house you will ever own.  You cannot imagine how happy it makes us to know  this house belongs to us, with no mortgage, no loan, no debt of any kind..

I guess the place to start is outside.  The railings and security bars are finally up on the balcony, and they are perfect.  Not quite 'N'awlins lace', but close enough to suit us.

This is the west side of the house from the road. It is late afternoon. The door on the balcony goes into the kitchen.  My sink will between the two windows.

The post in the foreground is for the fence.  For now it will be strung with barbed wire just to keep the neighbor's horses and cows out of the yard.  Jose and Marvin have plastered the colonnade, and it is ready to paint. The walls will have to wait 'til another time.

I took this picture to show how large the balcony really is.  The picture explains why the living room is small; we plan to do most of our living out here.  Since the temperature hardly ever gets below 72 degrees, it gives us a lot of outdoor living (read hammock) time.

You can see the security bars on the windows.  The frames of the windows are made of rosita.  Each of them have been planned, evened out, planed, shaped, and put together by hand.  Jose learns very quickly, so once Macho Man showed him how to rip the boards he was able to help a lot.  These frames are bolted into the concrete about 4 inches and the bars bolted into the frames.

This window is looking into the living room toward the portico door.  The picture shows more of the detail of the security bars.  Macho Man is working on the screens.  He is also working on the doors.  Once those are up, we will move in.  We can hang the windows  after we move in.

We supplied the wood and hired a carpenter to make the door from the kitchen to the balcony.  This is the natural color of the wood.  The tabs at the top of the door will be cut off before it is hung.  They are there so if the carpenter made the door too short you can layer in another piece of wood to snug up the fit.  I really like this door.

Lights on the balcony are in, and the wiring is in for the fans.  We have carriage lights at the front doors, upstairs and down. 

One of two hanging lamps we brought from Miramar.  Macho Man hung one at the back end of         the balcony on the east and west sides of.  This one provides light just outside the kitchen door; the other outside the master bath.

The ceilings are up.  We chose knotty pine rather than rosita or mahogany.  We want the house to be as light as possible and both the other woods get very dark as they age.  To me it is beautiful.

There over 600 boards, 1" x3" x10', in the ceiling. Each board  has been worked by hand, first to get it dry because it doesn't come kiln dried from the lumber yard. Then it has to be straightened and the tongues and grooves made. Jose and Marvin hand sanded and varnished each piece before it was hung.  MM showed Jose how to nail it into place, fitting the tongues and groves together. Jose and Marvin did a really good job while MM worked on something else.. 

The master bath.  The shower and tub surround are Macho Man's design.  If you look closely, all the grout lines and all the decorative tiles line up exactly.  There was a lot of effort put into this room.  The base cabinets and mirror still need to be installed and I need to paint it.

The grout lines in the tile from the balcony through the house,onto the rear portico, and down the back steps are all in one straight line.  I told you Macho Man is a perfectionist.

I am blessed. 

Medical Care in the Third World.

My sister-in-law had surgery today, and I am appalled at what I observed.  I am so mad I don't know whether to scream or sit on the floor and cry, or both.  I never want to hear another person from an industrialized country bitch and moan about how long they waited in the ER.  Don't tell me how the nurse was mean, or the doctor was rude.  Just shut up and sit down and be thankful for the advantages you have.

Yesterday we were talking to Sis and she told us that she had been scheduled for admission last evening, but had been asked to come in this morning.  There were so many peopled admitted they were putting two patients per bed.  Juan thought she was joking.  I thought he misunderstood her, so I just told him that if they tried to put her in a bed with another patient we would just bundle her up and take her home.  After all, I may not be working, but I am still a nurse.  Just in case, I took my BP cuff and stethoscope with me this morning.

Everything was going well until a nurse came out of the OR with a uterus in a jar the family provided.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  It seems they have no way of doing the pathology in Tocoa, so my nephew will take it to La Ceiba.  It will take a week or more to get the report.  Oh well, at least it was in formaldehyde.

The doctor did not come out and speak to the family.  Neither did the surgical or the recovery room nurse.  My BIL says it is not normal for anyone to come and speak with the family.  We were lucky because there were enough nurses/friends coming and going to keep us informed.

About 2:00 PM the nurses wheeled Sis out of Recovery and to her room.  Let me stop a second, and add some background.  Sis has been a nurse in this hospital for all her adult life, 34 years.  Usually nurses and hospitals take care of their own and make room for a co-worker.  Evidently not here; or maybe they did and that's why she wasn't sharing a bed.

Anyway, when we got to the room I looked inside and I almost fainted.  There were two ladies and their newborns on beds up against one wall, and both babies were screaming.  There was another woman on a bed under the windows who was obviously a fresh post-op and on the other long wall was a second fresh post-op and then Sis's bed.

This was not a big room.  This room was designed to be a semi-private room and it is a five bed ward. You never put pediatric patients, especially newborns, with adult patients, especially surgical patients.  That is a disaster waiting to happen.  This, along with the overcrowding, sets the stage for cross contamination.

The gurney being used was probably last used in the industrial world about 1930-40.  The bed was so old that I don't remember ever seeing one like it.  It was the size of an old gurney, about 25-30" wide.  Forget automatic controls; this one didn't even have the old crank at the foot to raise and lower the head.  You have to stand at the head and manually lift it.  Okay, Okay, call me a spoiled American Gringa.  After all, that is just the gurney and the bed.

When the nurses transferred Sis to the bed, they left her flat on her back.  Most surgical patient are left with the head of the bed raised at least to about 15 degrees, if not higher.  This helps keep fluids from collecting in the lungs and makes it easier to breathe.  Not one of the nurses checked for bleeding or even looked at the bandage.  No one checked to see if the Foley was draining, which is just as well, cause I didn't see one.  No vital signs were taken.  No pillows were put behind her to ease the pressure on her back.  She wasn't propped on her side in case she vomited.  I could go on, but I won't.

While I was building up to throwing my hissy fit Macho Man decided it was time to get me out of the hospital, so he said we needed to go to the hardware store and then home and hustled me out the door.  On the way out I was frantically trying to explain to my niece how to get her mother to deep breathe and cough; how to turn her from side-to-side; how to prop her up, etc.  I was also begging her to take Mami home and I would come and stay for a couple of days.

It is a shame when a medical system has a mission to provide good care to its users but does not have the equipment or the personnel to carry out that mission. It is a shame that many countries have no set standards of care and no way to enforce higher standards.  It is a shame good medical care is not a right of every human being.

Sis is okay for now.  I have no doubt she will fully recover and the pathology will be all right.

We are blessed.  If we have good medical care, we are doubly blessed.