Tacna, Peru 2006             Willamette Medical Teams returned from a trip to Tacna, Peru. Tacna is a large city of approximately 280,000 in population, located in the desert region that partially borders the nation of Chile. On this trip, WMT cooperated with IberoAmerican Ministries, headquartered in Maipu, Chile. The group departed from Seattle on November 10, 2006. We arrived in country on the subsequent Saturday and began operating clinic on Sunday, November 12, and ran it through Saturday, November 18. Portions of the group took an R&R trip in Tacna and left the country on Monday, November 20. A larger contingency of the team took a side excursion to Machu Picchu, Peru. That group returned to the US and Canada on Saturday, November 25. Clinic The clinic was operated in a barrio in the outskirts of Tacna. The church is located in a community called Ciudad Nueva, and it was affiliated with IberoAmerican Ministries. We saw 1,150 patients during clinic. There were several patients seen by various providers that were not documented. In addition, we conducted evaluation of roughly 20 students at a feeding program in the same barrio. We also evaluated 85 children at an orphanage on the Monday prior to departing the country. In total, we saw 647 adults and 588 children, for a total of 1235 patients. One minor surgery was conducted that involved the removal of a plantar wart; there were no deliveries.         Team Size:    The team consisted of two physicians.  One of the physicians was from Canada and one from Washington State.  They were both ER physicians.  The team also consisted of three nurses including an ER nurse, a critical care nurse, and the team coordinator who managed the pharmacy. Other team members came from areas in Utah, Seattle and Florida. The lay team members provided support to the operation of the clinic in the admitting area, in clinical services, in pharmacy and in the exam rooms. Pediatric Height and Weight    Dr. Sakata has embarked upon an informal study evaluating average height and weight for children ages 3 to 17 in Latin American countries. We were able to collect a number of height and weight data points and will be submitting these to Dr. Sakata’s data pool.     Crutches to the Rescue  One man came into clinic having suffered a compound fracture of both his tibia and fibula several years earlier in his life. The fractures had not been treated properly, and had subsequently healed at odd angles. This resulted in a fairly odd gait that the man possessed to get from place to place, which consumed a high degree of energy. At the recommendation of the physician, we purchased a pair of crutches for this man and he was able to ambulate much more safely and with considerably less use of energy. Another patient who came into clinic was 98 years old. This was unusual in that there were very few patients that we would consider to be this level of gentrification. This man was reasonably healthy and did not come with any family assistance. We noticed in the clinic that his toenails were excessively long, soiled and put him at risk of tripping. He wore sandals to accommodate these toenails and they appeared to be uncomfortable. We referred this patient to a salon in the city to obtain a pedicure. The salon was not in any way interested in providing service to the patient, so one of our team members, who did not have a background in health care, clipped the man’s toenails. The man was not able to communicate with us in Spanish and at this point we do not have his name on record. However, he remains on of the more colorful individuals who visited us in our clinic Common Conditions Dry Eyes    Given the dry climate of the region, many of the patients we saw in clinic complained of “dry eyes.” Fortunately, we had brought sufficient quantity of saline solution for such cases. We dispensed these solutions through the sixth day of the clinic.   Asthmatic Conditions    Many of the patients had upper respiratory infections and varying stages of asthma. We dispensed many broncho dilators and medicines to treat asthma. Skin Conditions    Many of the children came in with a variety of skin conditions, including scabies and various types of dermatitis. Many of the children also suffered from poor nutrition and abdominal parasite infestation. Pediatric Height and Weight     Dr. Sakata has embarked upon an informal study evaluating average height and weight for children ages 3 to 17 in Latin American countries. We were able to collect a number of height and weight data points and will be submitting these to Dr. Sakata’s data pool. Hip Malformations

One young girl had a congenital hip malformation. The girl was roughly 11 months old and had as yet not learned to walk. It was apparent from the gait that she had a condition that would likely complicate her ability to walk for any time in the near future. We obtained x-rays from a clinic in the city and Dr. Sakata forwarded a consultation to an orthopedist friend in Seattle. The details of this story are yet to be determined. However, we’re hopeful that this consultation either will result in a surgery intervention for this young girl or perhaps braces.