Another Day in The Clinic

 

We grabbed a quick bite, before we came to the clinic, this morning. (We don’t even notice the mealy apples, anymore. And as I posted earlier, the ants are on their own, when we find them swimming around in the jelly that we put on our peanut butter sandwiches. It is our philosophy that they shouldn’t be there, in the first place! So they get what they deserve!)

When we arrived at the hospital this morning, there were workmen digging a big hole outside the clinic. Not a good sign (literally – see below) – I hate to say it, but we rarely see workmen, at all.

It seems the plumbing in the hospital has backed up. None of the toilets work. (I haven’t heard what the alternative solution is, to using the toilets. Personally, I took a walk, in the mid-morning, down by the beach. It was lovely.)

On my walk, I noticed that all of the water in the hospital comes off the roof, and is collected in big cisterns. (Typical). We drink bottled water – we try to drink all the time. We get leg cramps sometimes, at night. Probably from being chronically dehydrated.

There is no air conditioning and all of the rooms have open windows (with no screens). We are in the middle of summer, and it is hot and humid. (I may have posted earlier about the weather).

The fan in the clinic moves the air, and evaporates the perspiration.  Feels great! We’ll try to find some cleanser for the accumulated grease on the fan’s screen.

This is our pesky chair that won’t move.  We physically muscled it up a few inches to save my back, and then stabilized it with two by fours.

This is our vacuum. The latex glove is keeping the collected waste where it belongs. Where is the duct tape when you really need it?

We try to encourage tooth brushing.

We’ve seen a few extraction patients this morning. I tried to get mom to do them, but she wouldn’t. (Class 3 mobility…..).. We went to lunch at the Mariner Cafe – which is one of two restaurants on the island. We could have taken the Tuk Tuk, but a driver from the hospital took us – it was about a three to fifteen minute drive from the clinic, depending upon how fast you drive.

We also have breakfast and lunch at the Api Ko Lata cafe.

This is the kitchen at the cafe.

This is a photo of the “Prison Van.” They bring all of the inmates from the prison on Ha’apai to various projects around the island. Come to think of it, it is the prisoners who do a lot of the work on the island. There are a total of 7 inmates currently serving sentences in the prison. They all fit in the van at the same time. Crime is not a big problem on Ha’apai.