Walking With El Salvador

The team carrying record bags and the vaccine cooler We walked to a ridge on the side of the volcano, where there was a welcome breeze "It's not about the numbers, but the person." The list of visits for the day included the names of 74 children.  Of the 891 persons living in the neighborhood, 74 were under 5 years of age, and their vaccination records needed to be checked.  In communities with health promoters, the vaccination rate is 100%.  Each family receives 8 visits per year, for vaccinations, holistic education, and water monitoring. Keeping track of water storage and disposal is critical in the fight against dengue and chikungunya . Vaccination records are kept by the promoters in plastic-covered notebooks.  These log books are meticulously scrutinized by the clinic directors, and by the bosses of the clinic directors.  Each child or adult keeps his or her personal book of vaccination and medical records at home.  Children have green books.  Pregnant

  We hiked back up the rocky trail to the highway, back to our vehicle.  We drove a bit further up the road to our next location.  Not too far off of the highway, we found the 3-year-old girl who was the next one to be weighed and measured by the health promoter.  Before we could attend to the little one, the child’s mother and her sister began to tell us of their own health issues.  One of the young women complained of extreme stomach pain and had a leg injury.  We could tell that she was very swollen around the middle, and the dressing on the leg looked pretty scary.  Promoter Yani was very patient, listened, gave the sisters the speech about HIV and the need for yearly pelvic exams, and helped the sister with the injury to make an appointment at the hospital for the next day.  Yani looked around the large yard and identified a few plants which the family could harvest to improve their nutrition.  Overall though, there were not many fruits or vegetables in sight, though there were

We drove up the volcano road, past the familiar turn-off to   Parque el Boqueron,  to the neighborhoods on the side of the volcano.  To get to these small communities, we parked on the highway and trekked our way in.  Promotora Yani was our guide, we walked from one home to the next, following barely visible paths of mud and rock.  Yani's goal for the day was to weigh and measure all of the children ages 5 and younger.   Baby being weighed using a spring scale Our first stop for the day was at the home of a 12-year old boy with a shoulder injury.  He had a sling and had been to the clinic for care.  The injury was the result of an accident.  The father had  been riding his bike, either picking up or taking the kids to school, and the bike crashed into the boy.  It seemed a pick-up truck was somehow involved.  Dad had a fractured finger, which he had "fixed" himself.  Yani checked each of the children over, weighing the little ones, and prescribing acetaminophen a