Day 3 - June 16-Setting Up The Clinic

Today, we had a morning orientation session that lasted several hours. We sat in a pavilion surrounded by mountain top forests, fields and horses wandering around. Everyone was introduced to each other, and I even did my introduction in both English and Spanish. I'm hoping my years of working on my Spanish will pay off. Jobs were assigned, and I was placed in the pharmacy, likely because my friend Phil Winand, who was the pharmacist on the project for many years, recruited me.

Two maintenance guys were in charge of setting up all the mechanical devices for the doctors and dentists. They had no help, so they recruited me for the Sunday afternoon setup. They asked if I was handy. I told them I had managed a rental property for 23 years, which sealed the deal. They said they were setting up a suction system for the dentists. I joked that I had two of those in my rental property.

Everything went well except at the very end. The cow milking machine they had rigged up for years to provide suction died. Eventually, a suction system was brought in from a nearby hospital, and things went smoothly for the rest of the week.Read more