| El Salvador Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Capital: | San Salvador |
| Language: | Spanish |
| Ethnic groups: | 87% Mestizo, 11% White/Caucasian, 1% Amerindian (Pipil, Lenca) |
| Demonym: | Salvadorian |
| Area: | 21,040 km2 |
| Population: | 6,134,000 (July 2009 estimate) |
| Currency: | U.S. dollar |
| Time zone | (UTC-6) |
View the image gallery from the 2010 mission
Canadian volunteers from Southwestern Ontario traveled with ASALCA from Toronto to set up our third clinic in Arcatao, El Salvador. This trip marked the return of many tenured team members who provided tremendous support to many first time STIMMA team members.
The translators, were again, the most important members of our team. Lead by veteran Francisco Linares and Eusabio Garcia, newcomers Daniella Garcia, Karla Rumulado and Augustine Garcia supported the medical team. We were also very fortunate to have local Salvadorean translators Juan (John) Marrin and Emilio provide guidance.
Lois took charge of the team with the help of Megan, one of our newcomers. The patients were then sent to mandatory education with Karla, breast cancer awareness with Rae, and a new component this year was dietary support with our team dietician Jasmine Ho. Olga helped take blood pressures, provide eye care and direct patients. The patients were then initially assessed by our team of nurses lead by Max and supported by newcomers Steph Gomes and Ellen Pace. Select patients were then seen by Dr O’ Connor, the team physician.
This year, the pharmacy was very well staffed by Veneta Anand, Kate Walsh and Laura Neilans. Kate and Laura are University of Waterloo Faculty of Pharmacy students who jumped right in and performed tasks in every department of the clinic. They started in pharmacy and worked in lab, eye care, diabetic foot care and sat in on triage assessments.
Ken Mavor completed the all important statistical analysis of the accomplishments of the team. Through his analysis we were able to determine the impact the clinic has had on patients after 3 years. We were pleased with the results of the comparison. We noticed decreases in the number of lice cases, fungal infections and respiratory ailments. We also noticed fewer cases of diarrhea and dehydration in the Honduran and Salvadorean patients.
This year was a special treat as Wendy O’Connor and the kids from STIMMAs harp program performed for the team. Please click on the links below to hear the kids in action!
Visit the Harp program page to see more videos or to download higher resolution versions of the videos.