Jessica Brooks, ReSurge volunteer clinical
dietitian.
Managua, Nicaragua -- Nicaragua is pretty much just as I left it: hot, gorgeous, tropical, hot, friendly, welcoming, and hot.
I was thrilled to be greeted at the airport last night by Dr. Mario Perez, the head surgeon for APROQUEN and ReSurge’s surgical outreach program director. He traveled 45 minutes out of his way on a Sunday to greet our volunteer group. It’s hard not to feel appreciated around here.
This being my second year as a visiting educator for ReSurge at APROQUEN, it was much easier to get straight to work this morning. We finished reviewing cases in under an hour and with the help of our fantastic translators, we were able to heavily participate and ask questions of the families, children and surgeons.
After rounds, I was able to spend the rest of the day with Geovanni, the nutritionist for the unit, reviewing what he had hoped to accomplish in the last year. I was happy to learn that he has been distributing and discussing the nutrition education handout we designed together last year. We also conducted a physical assessment on a new admission Reynalda (pictured above), a 16-month-old who was admitted with terrible road rash on her trunk. Luckily, she was sleeping soundly during our chat with her mother and seemed peaceful enough. Completely adorable!
Thankfully, Reynalda is a healthy weight for her height and age and has had a relatively good appetite since admission. She has no physical signs of malnutrition, which is unusual in this unit. We discussed strategies with Reynalda’s mother on how to keep her eating well and which foods promote wound healing best. I can’t wait to follow this little beauty queen throughout the week.