A group of catholic doctors and volunteers from LA came to Palmar a few weeks ago: equipped with bags full of needed medicine, medical equipment, candy bars and the energy to work hard. While they spoke English and Korean no one spoke Spanish. While we may smile in the same language, phrases like, "please pull out the second to the last tooth on the left side of my lower jaw" can get a little more complicated. So I got to translate and even dabble a bit in what i like to call, dentistry 101. With the Korean nun speaking Korean and Spanish and me speaking English and Spanish we managed to communicate and have a pretty good time.
Much to my surprise, my duties went way beyond that of translating as I actually assisted the dentist and got to take a trial run at a career as a dental hygienist. ( which for the record = not my cup of tea). While I lack the correct vocabulary, I can tell you that I mastered the art of the air-puffing tool, the mirror-lip re tractor and the tiny stitches scissor. I admit that the first tooth removal was a bit rough-- the unnatural crack of bone followed by the raw gum, pooling with blood, pomegranate red and then how he flung the chunks of rotten tooth like discarded movie popcorn left me a little unsteady but after that I started to almost enjoy watching the dentist yank on the tooth like it were a stubborn nail, deeply rooted weed or a stuck door.
But the best moments for me were being able to serve as a mediator between the patient and the doctor. It was amazing to really comfort people by explaining what exactly was wrong and how it could be fixed, to help connect them to their doctor and answer their questions while holding their hands.The best day was our last afternoon. We went adentro, about 20 minutes to a town with a greater need for medical attention where even without electricity we managed to serve 70 people before night fall. As you can imagine, dentistry in particular is kind of rough without electricity but we managed. The dentist told me that the conditions in palmar were worse than he experienced working in the missions in Korea in the 1970s.
It was a really exhausting week but so worth it and an amazing experience.
