Every single job in the clinic is important. Here are what people do every day as part of a Faith In Practice Village team:
Intake, Vitals and Albendazol: When patients check into the clinic,their information is entered into the electronic record system. Then they take Albendazol to remove parasites. They then have height and weight measured, and their blood pressure taken.
Triage: After a patient’s vitals are taken, they meet with team members in triage to determine what issues they are having so they can be referred to specific clinics.
Scribes: In the clinics scribes record the patient history and symptoms when they are meeting with the doctor, making it easier for the medical providers to perform their exam and focus on the patient.
Translators: For medical providers who do not speak Spanish well, translators assist in communication between the provider and patient, making sure that both parties have a clear understanding. Sometimes a second translator is needed to translate a native language to Spanish.
Medical Providers: The medical providers are the people that are actually performing the exams on the patient, and diagnosing them with something or referring them for more medical care. Medical providers in our clinics on this trip include general, pediatrics, gynecology, physical and occupational therapy, x-ray, and ultrasound.
Education: In education, patients are given information on nutrition, diabetes, high blood pressure, and how they can effectively manage that health issue.
Wheelchair Assemblers: Each wheelchair given to a patient is built on site, and it is adjusted specifically for each patient.
Pharmacy: The pharmacist fills all the prescriptions given to a patient by the provider.
Referrals: Patients that need surgeries that are provided by other Faith In Practice teams are referred to those teams for a future surgery date. If patients need medical care that is not available in our clinic, they may be referred to another clinic or local hospital to get that care.
IT: IT staff makes sure all the technology needed to keep the clinic running is working, so the clinic can effectively see patients.
Cooks: The cooks keep the entire staff fed and hydrated during the long clinical days.
I hope this gives you some perspective of all the people that make a Faith in Practice Village team work.
Elsa Trout
Team 887
