One more post...

A visit earlier this week to a local PHC (primary health center) with Nandini and Jenny (a Canadian who is interning with SVYM doing public health work)
On the visit with Jon to the local village for diabetes screening
Teaching Ani and Abhi (sons of some of the physicians who work at the hospital) how to throw a disc forehand, or "flick" - they caught on so quickly!
Some writing in one of the PHC's we visited that lists the pregnant women in the village and when they are due - right out in the open!
In the OT (operating theater) with Dr. Bindu (OB/Gyn) assisting in a hysterectomy.


Time is running quite short for me here! I have just a few days left here to enjoy and soak up my rich experience. It is incredible that time has gone by so quickly, and my last few days have been great.

This week has been filled with some interesting meetings and village-visits, as well as preparing for a few presentations that I will give prior to my departure. I leave here Friday morning, then traveling to Bangalore, then getting on an evening flight up to Delhi to meet up with Zach, who is flying over from the states for 2 weeks of traveling together. My presentations this week should be great - one is a talk I'm giving to the kids at the school about some of my Arctic canoeing/camping experiences. It should be great for them to see an entire different environment, and hopefully have some good questions to ask me about the experience! The other is a medical talk I will give to the physicians, etc at the hospital.

I was able to go on a village visit yesterday with Jon, who is the friend who is here for a year doing diabetes research. I have also been on the wards with the general medicine team and have gotten a few great lectures about tropical medicine and practices here.

As my time winds down here, there are so many things and people that I know I will miss when I leave. A month is hardly enough time to really start feeling at home somewhere, but, of course, as soon as you dig in and get to know people and have attachments is right when you have to leave. The experience has opened my eyes to so many different things - practicing medicine in resource-poor settings, public health concerns in a rural, underserved population, not to mention the people of India and how warm and welcoming and friendly they are. I have been incredibly lucky to have met so many wonderful people here!

I am not sure whether Z and I will be able to continue the blog while we're traveling - it will depend on our internet access. If I can, I will upload pictures of our adventures for all of you to see. Otherwise, we'll do it once we return to the states in mid-Feb (we return Feb 19th). Thanks for following my adventure and for all of your comments and support while I was here!

Laura