We are trying to organize our pictures and can definitely send you something within the next couple of days. We saw 487 people on the days that we counted. This is likely an underestimate as many asked for medical treatment and advice for family members that were at home. On the day that we didn't count because we didn't have any extra help we saw at least 60 additional people so the total would be 547. If we counted the people we sent food supplements home to-they said they came just for vitamins and food supplements, in addition to who was seen the number would be close to 600. We gave out all of the vitamins except those that we left with Dominqa and the iodine we left with her to purify the water and to help with iodine deficiency. We left 6387chewable children's multivitamins. We gave out over 10,000 prenatal vitamins and over 3,000 children's multivitamins. We also gave out thousands of iron supplements-we bought all the pharmacy had. I think most everyone is anemic. Nearly all the kids had scarred up eardrums and many with active infections, lots of pneumonia and skin infections. I think the ear infections may well be all the smoke they are exposed to and that of course contributes to the wheezing. We left some antibiotics but we gave out a lot with all the people that we saw. We did leave nearly 500 doses of the albuterol to use in the pulmoaide and did leave a nebulizer for you to use. We brought 120 lice combs that we gave out. I don't know if you are interested in keeping records of this but Colette did some fundraising with her nonprofit and spent at least $1500.00 in buying supplies-vitamins, meds etc. We gave out several hundred hand knit hats as well as hundreds of baby outfits. The combs, formula and some medications were donated. I can look into trying to find some prenatal cards for following blood pressure weights etc. We saw at least 20 women that had goiters-they all also had marked signs of hypothyroidism-very low heart rates, in the 40's with skin rashes, hair loss and they all described they could hardly get out of bed. It is amazing they got there. Likely this is due to iodine deficiency, we treated that. They really do need vitamins and they know they need vitamins. Obviously they need to increase protein/calorie intake but the vitamin deficiencies may be even more easily treated. You should think about giving the kids fluoride supplements-it decreases the cavities by 68% and the kids could definitely use that. Lots of people with obvious rickets-bowed legs etc so getting more calcium is huge. We gave out lots of tums, I think that is a good fit since so many have stomach issues to start with. I know I am rambling but I would really lean towards treating pain with tylenol not ibuprofen. I tried to look up if anyone has looked into the incidence of Vitamin K deficiency which would cause bleeding problems but I couldn't find anything. It is generally uncommon in the newborn period but with their very restricted diets it is a possibility. You aren't supposed to take it when you are pregnant because it affects the platelets so that right there cuts out lots of people. There were lots of common questions about puberty and child development. I know access to food is a huge issue but you aren't supposed to wait too long to at least introduce some solid foods or you get a tongue thrust and trouble with eating-we saw several kids with this. Several adults with ganglion cysts around their wrists-likely from the repetitive motion of weaving. This isn't dangerous but as you can imagine feeling a lump makes people nervous. We had one girl with tetany-treated her with magnesium and calcium and the missionaries were going to follow up with her. We had more than one person ask if their child was going to die. I guess unfortunately that is part of their experience but pneumonia should respond quickly to antibiotics as should skin infections. I realize that people do die from those problems when not treated but it was sad for them to think that maybe things wouldn't get better-hopefully they will.
I'll get you a more complete report soon. Thanks. Jerrilyn
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