by Linda Stadler

I have been an RN for 30 years, with most of my experience in the hospital setting.. This was my first trip to Nicaragua, although I spent three years in Guatemala with the Peace Corps and visited other Central American countries in the past. The people we visited and stayed with in Nicaragua were delightful, generally optimistic, and anxious to continue work on the projects. The Natural Medicine and Health Care centers in each village were clean, well-organized, and someone was able to explain how they gathered and prepared the herbal remedies that they use.

Promotora Ivania Zamora learns to use a stethoscope

There are several areas that they could still use some help with, and are not very costly. Labels for the medicine containers would be useful and are available with symbols for those that cannot read. This would help the health promotoras with the instructions they need to give out and are a good way for clients to remember how often to take the medicine.
The blood pressure cuffs that they have are too big for most of the population, and smaller cuffs are needed for accurate readings. They have not used this equipment yet, and need more coaching and practice. I spent some time having them practice using the stethoscopes to listen to hearts and breath sounds. The instructions for using the blood pressure cuffs and stethoscopes are in English and I’m getting Spanish versions for them.

I was able to donate some basic equipment to the midwives in each community and a book bag was used for keeping the equipment clean and ready to carry. There were cord clamps, basins, gauze, and suction bulbs for each community, and instructions about sterilizing reusable equipment was discussed.
The clinic in Santa Teresa has many needs, and few supplies to care for the members of that city. Some of the requests that they have are things readily available through medical missions, and I hope to obtain more supplies for a future trip. One item they have requested that could be purchased is white cover jackets for the people that work in the clinic.

Thanks to everyone who is helping to support this project to a very appreciative community in Nicaragua. Our work is making a difference