Some of the members of the Medical Team going to the clinic in Vanadzor for the first day of work!
Day 4: The first day of our medical clinic in Vanadzor! We all had a nice night sleep in the hotel and woke up bright and early to a simple, delicious breakfast of fresh bread, hard-boiled eggs, and cheese. At 8:00 a.m. we all came down and boarded our buses in our scrubs and headed out to the local church (Evangelical Church of Armenia of Vanadzor) where our clinic was set up. Upon arriving, we had our 20 minute daily group worship where we sing a few praises to the Lord and reflect upon our mission and why God had brought us here. Our mission was to touch the people of this town not only physically, but most importantly, spiritually. With that established, we headed into the church for the morning church service where we sang more Armenian hymns, the pastor gave a short sermon, and one of the group members shared a testimony. This was a daily routine in both of the towns we visit. After the sermon, we all went out to our assigned stations and prepared to begin our first day of work! When we were all prepared, the patients began to flow through the doors and were squirming like eager children to get inside the clinic and see the doctors. The patients sat down (or we tried to get them to sit!) and waited for their turn to be directed to the start of the clinic by one of the crowd-control personnel. When it was their turn, they began the clinic at the vital signs station, where we took their blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and blood oxygen concentration. After this, they head to the urine station, where they are asked to “evacuate” into a cup which they then bring back to the station. Their urine is then dipped and tested for glucose, protein, or if the doctors ask for it, a variety of other tests on a much larger dip stick panel. Once these two steps are completed, the patients proceed to the triage station, where the nurses and pre-med students hear and list the chief complaints of the patient and take tests like Hemoglobin A1C if needed. With this information, the patients are sent up to a doctor or practitioner whose specialty best fits their illness or complaint. For example: Dr. Philips sees mostly women who need aid in the field of gynecology, and my father sees mostly patients with complaints about their ears, nose, or throat. Once in the doctor’s room, they explain their illness to the doctor or if they do not know what their illness is, the doctors diagnose it. After this a prescription of medicine is given to the patients or if medicine is not available for their illness, they receive advise on what they should do to take care of themselves. With their prescriptions the patients go and retrieve prescription eyeglasses if they desired a pair, and then wait in line at the pharmacy for their prescription to be filled out and to be instructed how and when to take their prescription and then they exit the church. This is the general flow of the clinic and we do this in two parts each day: a morning half and an afternoon half. The morning and afternoon sessions are separated by a lunch prepared by the church kitchen staff and a short church service like the one in the morning. Once we complete both sessions, our group sits down for a dinner at the church (again, prepared by the kitchen staff) and indulge as we rest from a hard days work. When this is over, we leave for the hotel for the night to get some rest and get right back on it again!
Armenian Missionary Association of America 