VCOM

 Last week we had a group of medical students from VCOM (Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine) here to do a brigade in a number of different villages. VCOM seems like a pretty awesome school. They put a big focus on rural medicine, and they have clinics in Honduras, the Dominican, and El Salvador where students can do mission trips or even do part of their rotations. (Some of those details might be wrong). Plus they all seemed to be secret Auburn fans:).. Or maybe I imagined that.

Anyway, this brigade was VERY different for me from our normal brigades, but I enjoyed it quite a lot. Instead of helping “run the show” I was translating, since they have their own, very efficient, jefes (the Spanish seemed more appropriate). We had mainly second year students come down that had just finished their first year of medical school (got corrected for calling them 1^st years about 100 times), and they brought a handful of MDs to be their attendings. We saw less than half of the patients that we do on a daily basis in our normal brigades so that the students were able to do a full assessment, and the attending docs had time to stop and do some teaching. After I got over the slower pace and quit stressing over it, I really enjoyed listening to them teach, and I learned a lot in the process! There were also a few nursing students that came with them. I enjoyed talking to them, and realized that I wouldn’t go back to where they are(as great as that phase was) for any amount of money.

I actually just read and completely edited this paragraph… But I will say that the nursing students and I enjoyed working with the baby docs so early in their process of medical school. It’s really unique that they’re doing clinical work right after their first year, so they have a lot to learn, but they did a really great job! I really did enjoy, though, (and told the nursing students to remember these stories) having to explain how to do a blood pressure, or use an otoscope, or do a blood sugar, for example. They all worked really hard, did a great job, and made me laugh a LOT.

This was my first time to work as an actual official translator. Yikes. I did fine, thanks to God as always, but it was one of the most mentally and physically exhausting weeks I’ve had since I got here. There were more than a few times that I had to ask one of the “real” translators to come help me or for a couple of words, but overall I think it was fine. Maybe the others would tell you otherwise? Ha. The exhaustion might have also been because 3 of the 5 brigade days we were in villages that were 2.5-3 hrs away, so I was leaving the house before 0600 and getting home as usual around 9:30 or 10:00p.m. With that said, if exhaustion because of translating and long bus rides is my biggest problem, then I don’t have anything to complain about. 

Ohhh P.S. Grace, maybe you should be a DO. Seriously. And I PROMISE I'm going to call you. Worst sister award, I know.. But at least you're getting a shout out in the blog?

One of the students, Larry.

OMM: DO stuff in action.

Killing some time with some VCOM students.