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Back home now. It’s Thanksgiving. What an ideal time to consider our experience in Jamaica. We were fortunate to spend 3 weeks on this beautiful island. Truly thankful for the opportunity. The work was difficult at times, limited resources, limited medication, less than ideal facilities. These were the difficulties. The beautiful children, charming parents, supportive and helpful health care providers easily offset these difficulties. We are proud to be associated with Issa Trust. This trust is striving to provide quality care for the children of Jamaica. On reflection of medical trips, I compare projects like Operation Smile to our role with Issa. Very different goals but both are exceptional projects. While we as Pediatricians are unable to fix cleft lip and palate, a spectacular accomplishment, we provide longitudinal care and take “baby steps” in optimizing the well being of many more children where we work. While Issa Trust also does big things, donating radiology equipment, ventilators etc. our contribution must be viewed in a longitudinal perspective. Each Pediatrician during their one month stay helps a small but significant number of children, the cumulative effect of all the Pediatricians who come to Jamaica substantially enhance the well being of all the children in the service area. This is one of the laudable achievements of Issa Trust and in our experience a unique aspect of medical care projects. We want to thank Issa Trust and the people at Port Maria, Annotto Bay and Port Antonio for the opportunity to help the children of Jamaica. We loved our time there and hope we can return soon. A special thanks to Diane Pollard and all the hard work she does to make this project so successful. AT and CT

The Issa Trust Foundation is pleased to advise that Couples Resorts 2014 Calendars are ready for you to purchase!! For a donation of $25.00 or $20.00 each for two or more, we will send you a memorable calendar of beautiful pictures!  Just go to Issa Trust Foundation.  Be sure to put #2014 Calendar” in the comment field.  What a great stocking stuffer – a way to make a difference!!

enjoying the time here. lots of work, averaging 20 patients a day in each of the different settings. Port Maria is the most consistent, seeing a mixture of typical office based issues from URI’s to constipation, last week however there was an outbreak of impetigo and saw multiple kids with identical histories. Doled out a lot of Augmentin and Mupirocin as Cephalexin is unavailable. Annotto Bay has been the hardest to get to, transportation issues a constant so one needs to learn to relax and get there when you get there. You can enjoy breakfast and ask front desk to call you when driver arrives. makes the wait better. Port Antonio has been great fun, stay mostly in A and E, see lots of kids and staff very grateful for the help. this week had a child with pneumonia and another with both bone forearm fracture that was 3 days old. Tough kid, parents just happy to have child evaluated. Did see a Mom with elephantiasis, had had illness for thirteen years. otherwise mostly typical illnesses seen in US with emphasis on derm here. Would recommend a few things on your visits to hospitals. would suggest hand sanitizer and if you want to wash your hands, bring your own soap and paper towels. should probably carry tissues as well. I happened to bring stickers for the kids, a big hit. They are definitely big sponge Bob fans, girls have liked the princesses. People do not complain about waiting and are thrilled to have Pediatric input. You do need to feel comfortable working independently, but people will try to help if you have questions. Looking forward to next week and some new experiences. AT

Interview with Ms. Opal.  She shares her insights during the 2013 medical initiative in Oracabessa.  Oracabessa is a small town in St. Mary, Jamaica 10 miles east of Ocho Rios with a population of approximately 12,000. Click here to view video.