CAMTA Clinic -- An efficient day with over 100 patients seen!

With CAMTA Team Two rested and ready, there was a definite sense of excitement in the air at breakfast this morning.

The bus pulled away from the hotel promptly at 0800h.  But we didn't count on the road closures for a bicycle day in the south of Quito!  I jumped off  the bus fast so I could snap some quick shots of the staff entering the Tierra Nueva hospital.

Here's Saifee Rashiq, Jefe de Anestesiologo's  looking very purposeful!

And Aline Young followed -- you can see the crowd of patients waiting.  Aline is a smart organized woman and she's seen a number of ways to optimize our clinic flow.

Then Asha Olmstead who is participating as a translator for the second year.  Asha has applied to medicine and she's got interviews coming up soon!

This little girl is just over a year.  She's got a clubfoot.

The clinic process starts with some basic data entry at our computer station.  Here, Daniela who is from the Cotapaxi School assists Dan Ducholke on the right.  This little guy has osteogenesis imperfecta.  That's a problem with brittle bones.  Watch for more on him in the week.

This is translator Twyla, daughter of Miluska who has organized our translators in Quito.  Miluska is a member of the Canadian Women in Quito group.  Each hip patient completes a tool used to document in a scientific manner the quality of their life and how it is affected by the pain and immobility of their hips.

This family were delightful! Their son, Danillo, needs surgery.  Watch for more in the week.

This little guy has CP and he give s a delightful smile.  Ronny had surgery last year and came for follow-up.  That's Mathew Moreau poising with him.  Matthew is the local logistics coordinator for us.  That means he coordinates all travel arrangements and supplies procurement from outside the hospital.  He is also very helpful in the instrument cleaning area.

Here's another shot of the data entry area.  The clinics are problematic each year because there are so many patients, both new and old and so many steps in our process.  We struggle to improve with each clinic.

On Sunday we arrived at the hospital at 0845h after some traffic obstruction delays.

We saw the first patient at 0955h.  The last patient left the clinic at 1515h.  We saw over 100 patients.  That was darned efficienct if I may say so!

OK, fellow CAMTA participants, yes, I know there are too many pictures of Dan today but -- he was grooving on these kids!  And the kids are photogenic.

After the clinic everybody rushed back to the hotel to catch the hockey game!

It was a memorable moment when the Canadian team won the game.  We were in the lobby of the Hotel Radisson.  I was leaning on the grand piano.  O Canada sprung out spontaneously as the flag rose upon the pole!  I will never forget the moment.

All for now.  Stay tuned for stories!

John