Jamaican Ackee

A view of the stadium from the jungled hills above

Week number two at the clinic has begun! We worked from 8:00am – 1:00pm in the clinic. There we continued to see a variety of diagnoses, some returning patients from last week. The young boy that we saw at the special needs school came in for a new orthotic fitting. Unfortunately, none of the knee braces fit, but Steph was able to heat up and mold a better AFO (ankle foot orthosis) to help with his walking. His mom informed us that she wants to go to physiotherapy school once her oldest son finishes secondary school (~2 years from now)! Fran got to work with a pediatric patient as well! She was adorable! The story is sad…she got hit by a car, which resulted in a sprained knee and disfigured/non-functioning finger. She asked Fran for a gift, so she can forever remember her! We don’t bring much with us to the hospital, so she was happy with the hair band that Fran gave her…it was precious! Barb had an interested case, in which she was also able to give AFOs to after molding to better fit his legs. Becca worked with a man that was in a motor vehicle accident, which resulted in decreased movement in his rib cage. Another woman Becca saw has been in a knee immobilizer since October and Becca worked on the importance of being compliant with her HEP (home exercise program), along with a lot of strengthening! While Frances and Steph tackled a complicated case, Barb was able to treat other patients in the open area of the clinic. We must say, we are learning a lot about how to treat spinal injuries as that seems to be very common down here.

At 1:00 pm a young man picked us up and drove us to the only government run senior care facility on the island.  We found that it used to be a mental asylum and that it is completely free to the residents.  The qualifications for admittance is being homeless.  There are only 60 people there showing a true dedication of the people of this country to caring for their elderly, which important to the family structure here.  While there, we educated 21 staff members consisting of management, RNs, and carers, which we believe are equivalent to nursing assistants. We instructed on body mechanics, transfers, ambulation, bed positioning, range of motion/mobility, and breathing.  We were amazed that so many of the staff members came in on their day off to listen to us talk.  It shows their true dedication to caring for the residents there!  They even presented us with certificates and had refreshments to show their gratitude.  We were blown away by their heartfelt appreciation for education. 

Teamworking the grapefuit pickin'

Homemade fresh bread!

Freshly peeled green banana

Carefully choosing Jamaican ackee

Fresh homemade bread straight out of the oven!

We then rushed home to get ready for our dinner date with Dr. François.   He is a head doctor of internal medicine here at the hospital, as well as the medical director.    He kindly invited the four of us as well as the 2 physiotherapists in the department for a home-cooked meal.  Upon arriving his hands were covered in flour as he welcomed us in.  He was baking us his special homemade bread made from 3 different flours.  We then were shown how to pick our own grapefruits and mangoes and Barb used the grapefruits to make fresh squeezed juice.  Then we began helping with dinner by learning how to slice green bananas for a fruit and vegetable salad.  We learned that you can’t just peel them due to their greenness and that it is extremely sticky!  Next up was learning how to pick Jamaican ackee…i.e.- very carefully.  You can only pick it off the tree once it has opened up to allow the cyanide gases and such to escape otherwise it is poisonous and can cause cirrhosis of the liver.  You must also clean it properly or similar damage can be done.  We let him do the picking before we all wake up with jaundice tomorrow.  We even performed physiotherapy on his dog’s leg that was totally malingering…he wouldn’t even touch his paw to the ground when we were looking, but would fully weight-bear on it when we weren’t looking.  The rest of the evening was spent relaxing, taking a swing at piano playing, enjoying fine food, and lots and lots of heartfelt laughter with some great people. 

We are having a fantastic time and feel extremely welcomed and blessed by the people here!