First Day in Las Delicias

Today was an amazing first day in the rural village of Las Delicias, not far outside the city borders of San Salvador.  We had the pleasure of meeting the energetic, knowledgeable, and extremely dedicated health promoter in the community, Morena.  She had us jump right in and help out with her activities in the community.  We made home visits to pregnant women (there are currently 18 in the community), brushed up on our newborn exam skills, assisted with injections, and learned about all of the impressive work that they are doing in the community.

Exploring the community-

From left: Morena, Steve, Angela, Mike

 Morena with one of our pregnant patients, who is due this month!

(Fingers crossed that we can be there for her during labor!!)

Some stats on the age breakdown of Las Delicias.  There are about 35 births per year.

While the average life expectancy is 67 years, some of the residents seem to beat the odds, with 121 elders making it past that-- must have to do with all the great health outreach going on!  :)

Morena's "Risk Map"-- green = low risk, yellow = moderate risk, red = high risk.  

We saw the whole range in our visits today.

There are a number of programs dedicated to improving the health of the community of Las Delicias, including:

• Vaccines for children
• Pediatric weight checks and assessments for malnutrition
• Vaccines and outreach to the local school
• Elder outreach - flu & pneumonia vaccines, as well as a comprehensive meal program 
• Adolescent support group
• Dengue campaigns 
• Animal vaccination against rabies
• Pap smear campaigns

We will have the opportunity to work on a number of these projects during our time here, so keep an eye out for more updates!