San Vicente: Meetings & Sweet treats

Crazy clock tower Torre Kiosko in the center of San Vincente

Clara (MoH nurse), Samuel (translator), Aracely (Monitora), Carlota (head of nursing), me, Eva (pediatrics)

I accompanied a Ministry of Health nurse earlier last week to meet with the administration at San Vicente's local hospital.  The hospital is a secondary level, transferring all patients to Rosales National Hospital for a higher level of care.  The meeting was primarily to inquire about available dates and interest in our CPR training that we are arranging for the nurses.  The Green Cross will be coming down to preform the training.  Towards the end of March we will also be doing triage training with the nurses.

A local candy maker creates some of the finest sweets in the country.  The candy shop pictured here is famous for this women who creates tiny, doughy candy, rolled in cinnamon and topped with a raisin. 

San Vicente Volcano

sun, surf, sand & good ol' red lobster back

Just in case you're wondering... no, we did not ask this dude to pose for the pic

So the other weekend Jack & I had the opportunity to go to the beach. Playa el Tunco is a fairly small but extremely chill town on the Pacific ocean.




Compared to the constant alertness needed in San Salvador, El Tunco has carved out a niche as a destination for surfers the world over. The locals and the extra tourist police that roam the streets, make even the most travel nervous gringa / gringo to feel at ease enough to walk around in just their bikinis & bare feet.

We met up with Doctor Daniella from the MM trip. She comes to the beach as often as she can on weekends after long days of visiting communities.  Still, her job doesn't leave her as she usually plays the part of local physician for tourists & locals a like. Needless to say with a ton of sun, some rough housing in the waves, and beginner surf lessons at a rather reasonable price of $10 a day; Jackie and I will be more than happy to return.

surfer's paradise

The sun is so intense that even with multiple coats of sunblock both Jack & I ended up rather crispy and pink or...red....

El Tunco, (roughly translates to "pig") because those famous rocks are said to look like an upside down pig

Vitamins, Veggies & Germs ...OH my!

Glasswinger Samuel expertly translates the session

Glasswinger Chepe workin the crowd

 Another training on basic nutrition, exercise and illness prevention at Lake Coatepeque yesterday!  This audience was a community group (about 30) from the surrounding areas and organized by the local clinic.  Many participants asked questions and all helped plan balanced meals with the faux food we had available.

Watch out for angry oranges!

This session, I added a new presentation about important vitamins. The typical Salvadorean diet is relatively balanced except for one group...fruits and veggies.
To emphasize why fruits and veggies were important, we discussed what types of vitamins were found in certain foods and why they were important for the body.

Diana, the nurse from Planes de la Laguna, fielding comments from the crowd

Diana, the local nurse, gave a great and more challenging presentation on sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).  The people of Planes de la Laguna are truly lucky to have her working for the community!

Our patient audience!

Thanks to my team, Glasswingers Chepe & Samuel for their great support!

Mobile Clinic on the Move

Sweetest old Salvadorean man getting his eyes checked by the optometrist

The Mission of Miracles (MM) is a group of American doctors, dentists, nurses, and students who travel to El Salvador yearly and run a mobile clinic in 5 different communities.  The group is organized through Bonnie, a nurse and MPH from the states.  She connects with a local doctor Daniella and dentist Roberto, who visit each of these communities on a bi-monthly basis to provide care. MM allows for a boost in treatment of the regular visits and also provides needed medications and supplies that have been donated and collected over the year.

MM is a great program, to learn more please check their site here.

Some very talented MPH Seniors helping to fit glasses

Salvadorean optometrist putting on the finishing touches

 Due to our obligations with Glasswing we were only able to make one day with MM but is was wonderful to be a part of this trip.  There were many Nurse Practioners from SUNY Upstate, as well as nurses, pharmacists and general coordinators of the project.  An additional dentist and two optometrists from El Salvador took part in this year's clinic as well.





Andrea ended up working with the optometrists and a group of Spanish students from Manlius Pebble Hill High School.
With no previous knowledge in optometry or the eyeglass world, Andrea can now correctly find you a pair of reading glasses. I wouldn't ask more than that though.


I worked as runner for most of the day, helping out with odd jobs and transfering people from one area to the other.

Later that night, Doctor Daniella had friends from El Tunco beach preform a fire show for the crowd.
It was spectacular!  Don't worry, no cars or humans caught fire during this performance.  The juggler's also brought some of their wares: beautiful, unique jewelry for the volunteers to purchase.  It was a wonderful entertaining night. 

Meeting of the Minds!

Friday, met with the members of the Rosales hospital administration to discuss priorities in nursing education and hospital equipment needs.  Part of my Masters in Public Health (MPH) project will be to facilitate an exchange with US trainers in critical care areas to do teaching with nurses.  In a hospital of approximately 750 nurses, there are many needs for continuing education and getting enough equipment for all the units.  Rosales treats the sickest patients in the public system and offers the most specialties.  Having many gaps in primary care throughout the country the work done by this hospital is staggering.

Meeting at Rosales, starting from the front, clockwise around the table, Ponce (Nurse Educator), Nurse in charge of bed-board, Mauricio (Rosales doctor), me, Megan (volunteer), Walker (volunteer translator)

Continuing on my investigation, I met with the Ministry of Health today in downtown San Salvador to find out the hospital priorities are from the Ministry's perspective.  They identified critical care training and equipment needs as important for furthering capacity building at Rosales hospital because of the types of patients they receive there.

Nurses have been receiving training in advance life support for children (e.g. PALS) but will be losing the funding for this program in March, making the cost of the course material forbiddingly expensive to provide to the nurses.  They've also been lacking funds for adult advanced life support, severely limiting the number of the nurse's who can participate in the courses.  The hospital is not able to cover this type of training because the course materials are too expensive.  Because the typical Rosales patients need critical care, the hospital staff could greatly benefit from this type of training.

Ministry of Health website (Google translate works great for this)....

Today you will get to know Salvadorean Feet

Teamwork!

The Kung-Fu-Please-move-your-foot-forward-one-centimeter Grip

Jackie & the energetic boys

 Today we took a quick trip to Centro Escolar San Antonio in San Salvador to complete a shoe size survey for TOMS shoes.

Glasswing has partnered with TOMS shoes to provide shoes for public school children.

For those unfamiliar with TOMS shoes for every pair sold in a store, a kid somewhere in the world gets a new pair.

Well this is somewhere and these kids will  be getting new shoes soon!



Buy TOMS here & Support their ONE to ONE shoe program

Me & the very well behaved girls

Talking shoes of course

Makeover de ESCUELA Part 2 :: Somewhere Over the Rainbow ::

The ride to the second School Makeover took about an hour past harvested sugarcane and over washed out & pothole ridden dirt roads.   Driving with precision our in house handyman and driver extraodinaire, Chepe, got us and a few hitch hikers [a.k.a. weight for the pick up] to our destination without a hitch. 

By the way... GO BIKERS !

Being ambushed by the students while beginning to draw a new mural

open air classrooms surround large fields where the students play on breaks

¡¡¡ LEARN

TO RECYCLE !!!

School ::
Centro Escolar CANTóN La Presa
500 Students Total

Location ::
El Congo, Santa Ana  - Rural

Mural Theme ::
 Exploration & Recycling

Volunteers ::
35  Ingenio el Angel [sugar producer] employees & fam
40  Students, Parents & Staff
3    Glasswingers










Upon completing the drawings below, the bell rang to signify the end of recess/lunch and all the kids proceeded to pick up all the trash on the ground and throw it in one of the few trash barrels on site.

Talk about immediate results!

 me trying to be as cool as the kids

SCHOOL MAKEOVER DAY 
:: Centro Escolar Cantón La Presa ::

Taking inventory on Desks & Chairs

To remedy loose & creaky student chairs & desks, the volunteers pull out all the classroom furniture to inspect, replace or fix broken parts.

Broken parts are collected and furniture is consolidated to make functional pieces.

Chairs are cleaned up & painted if necessary.

Classroom ready for use!

screwing chair seats back in place

Greenery is added to create more shade & spaces for the kids

sandpaper & scraper attack

:: Student volunteers revitalize front gate

:: Paint & stencils are applied

:: More white paint

:: Beautifully refurbished entrance!

BIENVENIDOS/AS !

carefully placed stencils

Volunteers with newly painted murals in the background

Drive home past large Cedar Trees & harvested Sugarcane Fields

Makeover de ESCUELA Part 1 :: Trees Take Seed ::

WELCOME to Centro Escolar JUANA LOPEZ in San Salvador

My time at Glasswing has been primarily dominated by the School Makeover program. Glasswing partners local businesses (both Salvadorean & international) with public schools throughout El Salvador.

The money donated by the businesses & the 30-100 volunteers are then invested in a day of service at Salvadorean Public Schools. Organized & managed by Glasswing, the events are run by only a few staff members.

 In order to empower the community and minimize the influence of the local gangs, Glasswing works hard to find safe areas for both volunteers and community members to give back.

School Makeovers are done with public schools that lack the funding for routine maintenance.

Makeovers include all & any of the following:

:: New Murals drawn & painted
:: Fresh Blue & White paint all over the Walls !
           -Salvadorean public school colors-
:: Wire brush & fresh anti-corosive black
    paint on all railings & doors
:: Classroom scrub down & sweep
:: Planter boxes Built, Painted & Planted
:: Bushes planted around campus
:: Trash & recycleables pick up
:: Games painted on benches - checkers, mazes, etc
:: Broken/ loose desks & chairs tightened and
    repaired
:: School specific requests

So far I've been in charge of drawing & directing the mural painting team. For each makeover I go a couple days earlier to draw from 4 - 8  large murals on sides of  classrooms & buildings with fresh white paint. During the real makeover day I hand out color mixing sheets and the let volunteers interpret the drawings.

The end results are always fun to see, especially when pink or orange people/animals dominate the walls.

Wash your Hands [before]

Wash your Hands [after]

Games!

Wrapping up

                                                                                                .

Best Turtle Painting crew ever

 



School ::
Centro Escolar JUANA LOPEZ
1,100 Students

Location ::
San Salvador,  Urban

Mural Theme ::
Think Green -recycle & plant green

Volunteers ::
85  ASESUISA Insurance Co. workers & fam
40  Students, Parents & Staff
4    Glasswingers

THINK green!!

Save Electricity

Me with some Student volunteers

Teachers & Admin - Everyone lends a hand

Newly built, painted & planted Planter Boxes

ALLLLLLL   Done!