"Hey, Jerry! I found Cindiana Jones!"
The closest hospital to Panajachel is in Sololá, about 15 minutes up the mountain. Tuesday morning a 13 year old girl was going to market on her bike to buy food for her mother. She was crossing one of the bridges and fell through a giant hole caused by the latest rains - she didn't see it in time to stop. I don't know how high the bridge is but it was high enough to do enough damage without killing her. She was knocked unconscious and woke up in the hospital. Wednesday afternoon we went to see how she was doing.
She had been there since her accident the morning before and still had not been seen by a doctor. Some nurses came by to take a blood sample and give her a saline solution. When we got there she was in a terrible amount of pain. She was crying silently, not wanting to make a big deal about it but the tears just kept coming.
The hospital, catering to the impoverished clientele in the surrounding areas, provide all services free of charge. But what they don't post on all their signage is that, if you have money, they'll attend to you right away. We asked how many doctors work there. A mountain of doctors. She couldn't keep food down and they wouldn't bring her juice or even water. It made me really mad to say the least.
After a few minutes of talking and trying to contact Sharon we decided to take her to the clinic here in Pana. They took her into an exam room immediately. Turns out her kidneys and intestines are swollen from the accident, getting more and more so since nothing had been done to help her. She's been there at the clinic since. They even let a family member stay with her overnight. Her mother and grandmother wept and wept in gratitude.
Sharon is gonna send the bill to the Mayor's office. They prob'ly won't pay it. That's just the way it is here.
At the hospital we also met another 13 year old girl who needed surgery and laid in her hospital bed for a week before they operated. She just looked so sad. Not only in pain but so incredibly bored and depressed. She only speaks Kaqchiquel and her family can't afford to send her to school. She doesn't know how to write her own name. I left her a little notebook and a couple pens, wrote her name on the top of a page so she can practice while she's in recovery. If she's still in the hospital we'll go back to visit today. If not we'll visit her family in San Andres. Or maybe both.
She had been there since her accident the morning before and still had not been seen by a doctor. Some nurses came by to take a blood sample and give her a saline solution. When we got there she was in a terrible amount of pain. She was crying silently, not wanting to make a big deal about it but the tears just kept coming.
The hospital, catering to the impoverished clientele in the surrounding areas, provide all services free of charge. But what they don't post on all their signage is that, if you have money, they'll attend to you right away. We asked how many doctors work there. A mountain of doctors. She couldn't keep food down and they wouldn't bring her juice or even water. It made me really mad to say the least.
After a few minutes of talking and trying to contact Sharon we decided to take her to the clinic here in Pana. They took her into an exam room immediately. Turns out her kidneys and intestines are swollen from the accident, getting more and more so since nothing had been done to help her. She's been there at the clinic since. They even let a family member stay with her overnight. Her mother and grandmother wept and wept in gratitude.
Sharon is gonna send the bill to the Mayor's office. They prob'ly won't pay it. That's just the way it is here.
At the hospital we also met another 13 year old girl who needed surgery and laid in her hospital bed for a week before they operated. She just looked so sad. Not only in pain but so incredibly bored and depressed. She only speaks Kaqchiquel and her family can't afford to send her to school. She doesn't know how to write her own name. I left her a little notebook and a couple pens, wrote her name on the top of a page so she can practice while she's in recovery. If she's still in the hospital we'll go back to visit today. If not we'll visit her family in San Andres. Or maybe both.