Before the First Patient: Building a Clinic Out of Boxes and Belief
Sunday, April 12
Before the first patient, we work hard to transform the San Pedro Pinula Elementary school into a temporary medical clinic.
The whiteboards still hold yesterday’s lessons at the San Pedro Pinula Elementary School. Tiny tables and chairs are stacked against the wall to make room for what is coming. This is a school. Or it was, this morning. By 4pm, it is something else entirely.
Team 899 Santoro/Johnson, a crew of 32 medical professionals, translators, and other volunteers from the United States, as well as countless local volunteers, move boxes and crates, and unpack and organize.
The transformation of the school into a temporary medical clinic happens quickly. A folding table unfolds. A black plastic bin labeled PHARMACY appears where a reading corner used to be. An exam curtain turns part of a classroom into a private exam area. Boxes of medical supplies are laid out in a row and wheelchairs are arranged according to size.
Tomorrow these rooms will be filled with people.
