DB PERU
Annual Report 2003
Trip dates – March, May, September 2003 in the country of Perú
Recipients:
Approximately 1000 people in these 5 villages on the Napo River in Amazon jungle of Peru:
San Alejandro
Centro Unido
San Pedro
Auca Cocha
San Juan de Floresta
There are approximately 60 % children and 40% adults, men and women fairly equal in numbers.
The small clinics (or puestas) of:
Tamanco
Mangua
Orellana
Yanashi
Belen
The Center of Health (or Centro de Salud) in Mazan
The Center of Health (or Centro de Salud) in Santa Clotilde
The Hospital Apoyo in Iquitos
And the asilo (home for the elderly) in Morropon in the north of Peru
Donations from:
Heart to Heart International, Kansas City, KS – Medicines and medical supplies
Lee Memorial Hospital, Fort Myers, FL – Medical instruments
Susan Park DDS, Fort Myers Beach, FL – Dental instruments
Craig Dudash, Orlando, FL – Medical supplies
Mother Earth, Fort Myers, FL – Herbal remedies and vitamins
Linnea Smith MD, Yanamono, Peru – Medical instruments and aspirin
Lori Myers RN and Anita Anderson RN, Knoxville, TN – Medical supplies and medicines
John Waymire, Iquitos, Peru – Use of his boat, the RioBioBio
Ronald Pinchon MD, Mazan, Peru – Use of the boat from the Centro de Salud, Mazan and the time of the technico, Jose as the motorista (boat driver)
Bev Larson;Fort Myers Beach, FL
Rich and Linda Gettamy, Fort Myers, FL
Kay Fogelson, Fort Myers Beach, FL
Sandra Bowlin, Knoxville, TN
Hair Etc, Fort Myers Beach, FL
Meisa Pearl, Clearwater, FL
This group of people collected and donated numerous bags and boxes of clothing, toys, shoes, hair accessories, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant and things useful for daily living.
Gary and Diane Bowie – sponsored the trips, including the costs of shipping and handling the items
Report:
Diane Bowie and Renzo Peña delivered these supplies and medicines to the 5 communities, 5 clinics, 2 centers of health, and one hospital in Iquitos during the year 2003. There were three trips, one in March, in May, and in September, each approximately one week long. In March, 3 volunteers accompanied us from the United States, two being RNs.
In addition to delivering donated items, we have acted as a ferry for sick patients from the communities to the clinics and delivered birth control pills to the communities from the clinics.
We visited the center of health in Santa Clotilde up the Napo River toward Ecuador. There are 2 dedicated priest/physicians, Padre Jack and Padre Maurice, working there now for 17 years. The health program in their clinic and the surrounding areas is well established and maintained. We left supplies and instruments, but do not feel that this is an area of need. However we did enjoy the hospitality of the wonderful people who worked and lived there and have made some good friends.
We also visited the clinic of Yanashi, further down the Amazon River at the request of the doctor there. After confirming the date of our arrival, we motored into the community only to find that he was not there. However the staff was gracious and showed us the clinic. We left modest supplies as they too looked fairly well stocked and staffed.
At the request of the mayor of Iquitos, we delivered some medicines and supplies to the clinic in Belen, which is in the poorer section of that city. I wanted to do the politically correct thing and honor his request, but my mission is to reach people who cannot easily access health care. So unless specifically asked again, we will not return. My good friend, Segundo, a 12 year old shoe shine boy, helped us here, as this area is so honeycombed with narrow streets and back alleys that it is almost impossible for a new person to find their way in or out. Belen is certainly filled with sights, sounds and smells that are most colorful and alive. And also a place to be most watchful for robbers. Segundo guided us well and the delivery went smooth. There was certainly no question that they needed what we brought. As the 2 nurses from the USA unloaded the supplies to the accepting nurse, I sat with the administrator and carefully wrote out exactly what we had brought.
Javier Luis Flores of Iquitos, a nurse midwife, accompanied us twice. The highlight of his first trip was the delivery a health baby with our photos to show of it in the San Pedro community. On his second trip, he did teaching for the women on birth control, prenatal care and safe sexual practice. He used the teaching materials from the Minister of Health. This was well received by the women.
Dr. James Flores of Yanamono, accompanied us on one trip and held clinics in each village, using supplies and medicines from Heart to Heart. We set up in the school house and women with their children in tow and in their arms flocked to see him.
I worked with Dr. Linnea Smith in Yanamono for the month of February, gaining my own knowledge of jungle medicine and treating patients. She has a private clinic on the Amazon River about 2 hours from Iquitos on a fast boat. I made good friends with her tecnicos, Juvencio and Edemita and the staff from Explorama, the jungle lodge where I stayed nearby. Twice a day, I would walk through the jungle to go to the clinic, in downpour or shine. It was a tremendous experience and I was quite fortunate to have this opportunity.
The major focus of our work is for Renzo Peña and I to deliver medicines and supplies to the people in 5 villages along the Napo River. We deliver first aid supplies, and basic medicines for colds and flu, fever and pain, arthritic pain, infection, parasites, stomach upsets, diarrhea, cremes and ointments for inflammation, dental pain, vitamins. Almost all is donated by Heart to Heart International. Each trip we leave about enough supplies for 3 to 4 months. We leave the medicines with the health promotor, a designated man in each village to oversee the health needs of that community, who signs a receipt. We review each medicine and leave written instructions in plastic. We have asked the promotor to keep a log of use, the effectiveness, and any problems experienced with the medicines. It has been difficult to get them to put this in writing, but verbally they are quite animated about the positive effects they have had and no one has experienced any problems. On our last trip we have reinforced the need for a log and will buy them a book for their records.
At times we have medicines and supplies that are not appropriate for the lay people in the villages. These we leave with the clinics and center of health, with instructions that they are to be used and given for free, for the people who cannot pay. Some supplies are only appropriate for hospitals and we take them to the Hospital Apoyo in Iquitos, that operates almost solely on donations. It has a special place where they store the things that are donated, to be given to the people for free when needed.
Our mission is ongoing - to bring enough help, with education and basic medicines and supplies, to allow these people to stay in their community and homes when they have minor illnesses and injuries. However, there are some special stories:
We found a tecnica, Jesus, in a small clinic at Tamanco, working alone without a stethoscope. She serves 16 small communities. Unfortunately, she was one whose presence in the clinic was inconsistent and it took us a year to find her and bring her one. We had faith though, and never gave away the stethoscope that was earmarked for her. I will never forget the look on her face when she saw it. She was near tears and couldn’t thank us enough with hugs and kisses. Again this stethoscope was from Heart to Heart and I wish the folks there could have seen her in person. Now she can listen to those lungs of the children and older people and to the rhythms of their hearts.
Another story about an item from Heart to Heart was a medicine for arthritis, Relafen. A delightful woman who makes her living cooking in her home was suffering quite badly with arthritis. We left a bottle of pills with her, with instructions on use and side effects and to check with Dr. Ronald. When we returned months later, she was like a new woman, her hands moving freely and her spirit bright and happy. We always continue to set aside some pills for her on all our visits. She lives in Mazan and cooks for the people in the clinic there.
One small boy had quite a bad burn on his head from a hot liquid cooking on a fire in San Alejandro and it was not healing well. We gave them some antibiotic ointment, the Betadine antibiotic ointment plus pain relief, to use. When we returned a few months later, it looked very good, healing well with no infection and tufts of hair growing back in places.
One of our favorite stories is of the 3 doctors who just happened to be together in Mazan one day when we arrived. It was Dr. Ronald Pinchon from Mazan, Dr. Maban Diaz from Orellana and Dr. Marco Hugo from Yanashi. We had collected instruments from Heart to Heart, Lee Memorial Hospital and dental instruments from Dr. Susan Park. Although this was not a planned gathering, we spread out all the instruments that we had on a table. It was like Christmas, watching 3 excited children, pick and choose their favorites, negotiating with each other, and trading.
Unfortunately in the jungle climate, instruments rust easily and wear out faster. Replacements are just not forthcoming. Dr. Ronald has mentioned more than once that they have the skill and knowledge to do more, but just don’t have the tools and supplies. So now I knew that this would open up their capabilities to help more people. And their smiles said it all.
There also continue to be some issues:
There are about 1000 people in the villages that we serve. Again it is difficult for them to access clinics as most communities do not have motors on their dugout canoes. A few do, but there is little gasoline, so they must paddle up to 8 hours to reach help. This requires leaving other family and children in the village, cared for by others while gone. And the people do not have money. This is not so much a factor of being poor, as much as they have little need for money. So when they have to go to where money is needed, it is a burden. There are 2 small clinics in the area, but they run out of medicines, including birth control pills. And they are manned inconsistently by technical people. So people in the villages are reluctant to paddle hours, only to reach a clinic unmanned or with no medicine. We know first hand that these stories are true as Renzo and I visited one of these small clinics and met the technical person. Then we visited four more times before we found her there again.
Clothing and items needed for daily life are always well received and very much needed. And I wish that we could bring more. Many generous people want to give in this way. We will continue to research how to bring these kinds of things into the country and then to Iquitos inexpensively. Getting things through Customs continues to be a problem and no one seems to have any answers to make this happen smoothly and consistently.
Our transportation down the river is always a question mark. On our first trip in December 2002, we rented a boat, but it was open with no roof and we got drenched many times. At least we had the medicines in plastic. In March we rented a boat and driver, but it was very expensive. In May we used a wonderful boat donated from a friend, John, in Iquitos. It was wooden with a thatched roof and a peque peque motor and it met our needs perfect. However when John and I were out of Iquitos, the boat driver sold it and moved to Ecuador. I was more indignant that John, who just said maybe the boat driver needed it more than we did. Such a great outlook on life, I guess mine needs to be adjusted. But when Dr. Ronald in Mazan heard of our problem, he allowed us to use the clinic’s boat for free on subsequent trips, as we are serving the communities that he serves. I only have to pay for the gasoline and driver. This has been a huge help, but don’t know if this is the solution into the future. We may have to buy a boat and motor. There is a man in San Pedro who will store it for free safely if we decide to buy.
In addition to our mission in the jungle, we have lent support to a home for the elderly in Morropon in the north of Peru, in the desert. This is an extremely poor town with huge needs in every arena. I was asked by my friends who live in the city of nearby Piura to help. Renzo and I have made several trips there to aid a nun, Sister Mary Leah, with her project of this home. The people in this home are mostly without families, sick and indigent. Cash money was donated by my husband for the local men to build needed furniture (and give work to the local men). We brought fabric and pillows from Lima for the women to make sheets, pillow cases and pajamas. I also donated a modest amount of first aid supplies and medicines to the home from Heart to Heart, with the oversight of a community physician. For the community in general, we also have taken as much clothing as we can possibly carry, doling out one piece per household. Vitamins were given to women who were pregnant.
We have spoken to the mayor and local businessmen about expediting paperwork on the title to land donated for a new home for the elderly. After 3 years, this was accomplished when a new mayor took office. But for the community in general, I know of no plans to improve conditions. The heart of the matter is that there is no work for the men.
