Bonfires, Clavo and Hair.

The Clavo poker she uses

Everyone loves bonfires...but could you imagine having one everyday IN your home? No fresh air, constantly breathing in that smoke. Your hair and clothing perpetually smelling of burning wood. No, thanks! For the people in Soloy, that's life. They use fire to cook, heat their irons, etc. The worst part- most of them have these fires in their home. Can you guess what the most common health issue is in Soloy? Respiratory diseases. Connection? I think so. Making observations such as this is the responsibility of the community nurse. Their role is to discover issues in the community and help solve them. In this case, the community nurse would need to educate the people about the dangers of fires in the home, help them create alternatives and then follow up. It's definitely easier said than done. Change is something humans struggle to embrace.

The little holes in her knees as a result of Clavo

Change doesn't always have to take place on part of the community members, though. Sometimes it is the nurse who needs to change. This is where being culturally competent comes in. Throughout my time here in Panama, I have witnessed many unique cultural traditions for health care. The first- Clavo. This is where they take a metal poker, heat it over the fire, then poke it into whichever part of their body is hurting. We met a woman who was using Clavo on her knees to help treat her arthritis pain. She stated that she also pokes it into her forehead to relieve headaches. The second- packing wounds with hair to stop bleeding. We had a 8 year old boy come into the clinic because he stepped on a machete and sliced open his foot. It was the deepest laceration I have ever seen. As the doctor began cleaning the wound, we noticed it was very dark inside. To our surprise, the "darkness" was hair that they had shoved in his wound to try and stop the bleeding. As a student nurse, my first reaction was shock. My second reaction was to want to teach them "better" ways to heal. Then I reminded myself to be culturally competent. Who am I to say what I believe is "better?" Who am I to step in and try to change their traditions? If it were something causing serious damage to their health, then intervention would be necessary. But if no harm is being done and they believe it works, then let them be. I can educate them on alternatives, but my goal should not be to change their traditions.

After discovering the bed bugs

Zip lining

Zip lining

In other non-school related news: I had a blast this past weekend zip lining for the first time! Last night I found an entire colony (I mean thousands) of ants living in my bed. For those of you who know me, you can imagine how traumatizing that was. It was only fitting considering that our first night at the first place we stayed, I found bed bugs in my bed. Needless to say I moved to a different bed. I'm convinced that all insects make it their mission to torture me. Only 3 more nights to go. After we leave here, Bekah, Olivia, Elizabeth and I are Panama City bound to enjoy the last 4 days of our trip in strictly vacation mode.

Elizabeth, Bekah, Oliva, Me