I hooked up with my alma mater, Regis University, and the Catholic Medical Missions Board and had the opportunity to venture down to Peru for 10 days earlier this month. Together with five awesome Regis PT students, one of my old professors, one of my old classmates, and a pediatric PT, we ventured south of the Equator for a cultural experience that I will always remember!
After arriving in Trujillo, Peru, Cindy Potter (the amazing pediatric PT) and I had one day to get over our culture shock, turn on our Spanish and complete final preparations (including giving the students a crash-course in our respective fields) before presenting at a two day course on the examination and treatment of neurological conditions. During the event, Cindy presented on Cerebral Palsy and I on Stroke. It took me a while to get over my initial nervousness because, as it turns out, I hate public speaking when it is in Spanish even more than I hate it in English. Luckily, I had the most amazing Ana with me, a PT from Peru, who was able to help me out more than she will ever know, during the presentation. I was pretty proud of myself because I completed my entire two day's worth of lectures in Spanish with only occasional, desperate use of a translator. I guess my morning, pre-work "spanish lessons" and practice sessions were enough to advance my Spanish from a conversational level to a academic/medical level. Whew... thank you God for Podcasts.
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| Cindy, Ana and I |
I feel like the conference went extremely well. I guess the main plan of care that they use for individuals that have suffered from a stroke is application of heat packs to the affected side and use of a vast variety of non-evidence supported modalities. I was amazed by the questions that I received and had the opportunity to "consult" on some very specific cases that the PTs were currently working on. We encouraged the implementation of documentation and they were shocked to hear that I chart for two hours per day (which is probably an underestimate). I even had the opportunity to conduct some impromptu floor transfer training, as I guess most of their clinics don't have treatment tables and they transfer their patients onto mats on the floor. Overall, I was very impressed by how engaged and intelligent the group of PTs, students and techs were!
Side note: While on my 8.5 hour layover in Miami, prior to flying to Lima, I found this awesome app on my iPhone called 360 degrees that takes panoramic shots. It is super cool and Free... download it now. So, here is a link to the panoramic shot that I took of the conference center,
http://360.io/cWgpaf
One quick story so that I continue to remain humble now that my name has been on a poster... So, I was teaching postural control for a low-level stroke patient and was sitting on this standard folding table with my "patient," this tiny Peruvian gal. As I am demonstrating and talking away, all of a sudden, the table breaks in half and we crash to the floor in front of the roughly 50 participants. Oh, so humiliating... Thank goodness it was at the end of the day and that there was not permanent damage to my spine, only my ego. Only I would do something like that... And the one piece of advice (threat) that we got before beginning the conference was, of course, "Don't break the tables." Opps.
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| Ana, Cindy and I at the lunch reception |
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| My group with a billion questions, showing off their certificates |
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| Regis Represent! Amber, Leesa, Ryan, Juan, Nancy, Julie, and Janelle |
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| I have no idea who the lady in green is, but apparently she is important?? The gal to her left is the one and only Claudia, director of the Catholic Medical Mission Board. Yeah, she is pretty much my hero. |
After the conference, Cindy and I thankfully got to take a deep breath and take more of a back-seat role for the rest of the expedition. But the fun was really just beginning...
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| View from atop the convent. |
We ditched our hot-water hotel and moved in with the rest of the group in a convent run by the most adorable nuns I have ever met. The convent was not exactly in the "nice part" of town. Rather, it was more "across the tracks" if you know what I mean. But, no worries, as apparently it was guarded at night by a massive German Shepherd, as we were told to not venture into the surrounding courtyard at night, lest we may get attacked. Never a dull moment. But, thanks for the heads up nunnies... not that I really wanted to do any night sight-seeing.
Using the convent as base camp, we had daily excursions out to the local Projects, Huanchaco, or surrounding archeological sites. First let's talk about the Projects.
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| Another view from atop the convent. |
From the above view, you can notice two things. First, right across the busy street from the convent there is a "Huaca," which translates into something like, "ancient, religions pyramid." Think Incas. Crazy... they were all over the place. This one was currently being excavated.
Secondly, in the upper left hand corner you can actually see a division separating Trujillo from the Projects... quite literally a line in the sand. It was up there where we went to conduct home visits to see kiddos with developmental disorders, ie Cerbral Palsy, Microcephaly and Down's syndrome.
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| Treating the one and only Raul. Absolute sweet-heart with an amazing strength. This boy is a fighter and has fantastic potential. This session was conducted in his home. You an kind of make out the chickens kept in the background. |
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| See the garden in front of the yellow house? That is another one of CMMB's ongoing projects. They help start little gardens for food, while simultaneously educating on the importance of feeding your children first and then using the remaining food to feed guinea pigs or other animals that can also provide sustenance. Little bit, by little bit, they are seeing a decrease in malnutrition percentages. |
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| Not to be deterred by our patient not being home, we went to the local market to look for her. Some therapist do home-visits. We do market-visits. What up, now? |
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| While looking for our patient, I couldn't resist sneaking out my camera for a few pics. |
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| Depending on who you talk to, there are between 400 and 4 zillion types of potatoes that can be found in Peru. I did not sample any of them in this picture as there appeared to be what I believe was an alive dog asleep in 3 of the varieties. |
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| Yum. |
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| I think she was stoked about getting her picture taken. |
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| Janelle treating the beautiful little Leslie. |
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| Youngest PT, ever! She was helping Janelle and Leslie with the treatment session. |
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| Janelle, Amber and I with two of the local CMMB volunteers, Cecilia and Maria. |
One thing that I always struggle with is whether or not the volunteer work that we are doing on trips like this is only feel-good work for the participants, or whether it is actually making a positive, lasting impact on the locals. What I loved about this trip is that when we were making our home visits, we were with the therapists that are usually treating the kiddos. Therefore, we were able to give them ideas for treatment options and actively involve them which should have more of a permanent effect than us transients treating once before flying back to the states.
While on the subject, I have to give a standing ovation to the Peruvian CMMB volunteers. These, quite honestly, are some of the most amazing women I have ever met. Local professionals, they would treat in Trujillo in the morning and then volunteer with the kiddos in the projects in the afternoon/evening. Claudia, Cecilia, Maria and Carla... you all have my eternal admiration!
And a shameless plug for my new friends down in Peru... Check out:
And, Please consider donating to this amazing organization!
The day before we began our journey back to the US, we invited the families from the Projects to join us at a local swimming pool for some "aquatic therapy"/pool party!
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| Teaching the group Pato, Pato, Ganso (duck, duck, goose) while waiting for the pool to open. |
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| Quite possibly my favorite picture of the entire trip. This little kiddo with CP absolutely loved running with his Dad! |
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| It goes without saying, but this little girl fell in love with Ryan. |
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| Raul LOVED the pool. His tone did not. Baclofen for everyone! |
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| He didn't stop smiling the entire time. And I didn't think he was ever going to get out of that pool. :) |
We also ventured over to
Huanchaco, a neighboring ocean-side town, a couple of times during the week.
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| Sampling the local cuisine of Ceviche... raw fish cured in lime juice makes for a pretty delicious lunch! |
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| This picture reminded me of the Kayak wall in Salida. All Chaffee County peeps will know what I mean... |
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| Strolling the beach with his horse. This is runner-up for favorite picture taken on the trip. |
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| Peruvians, in complete opposition to Hawaiians, say that they invented the surf board. They still use these boats for fishing. I don't remember what they are called... |
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| Janelle rocking the surf board. |
Definitely a big favorite part of the trip for me was visiting the local archeological sites. We were able to visit three.
Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna:
Outside the city of Trujillo are these two awesome pyramids. As a group, we took a tour here exploring one of the Huacas. These were the Moche indians. For more information and your reading pleasure:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaca_del_Sol
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| Peruvian hairless dog. Ugly. But, culturally, very important and distinguished. |
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| The gray area in the middle-left was where they did the human sacrifices. But, contrary to Hollywood, it didn't happen very often, which apparently makes it okay. |
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| They would build the new pyramid on top of the old pyramid, filling in the old pyramid with bricks, so there were several layers. The new pyramid looked exactly like the old pyramid... just bigger. |
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| Each archeological site we looked at had different architectural ways of dealing with earthquakes. Crazy smart people! Here, Leesa and Julie are showing off how they would incorporate free space to allow for wiggle room. |
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| They are excavating the town that was constructed in between the two Huacas. |
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| The prisoners on the bottom tier. On the second tier, off to the Left you can see an alligator. |
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| Dancing, happy priest-dudes. |
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| Keeping with Regis tradition: Manipulations around the world. |
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| They used Ramps! And here in modern day, we have accessibility issues. |
Chan Chan
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| Cindy welcoming us to the palace. |
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| They had a thing for sea otters. |
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| Fish! |
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| Apparently the criss-cross symbolized fishing nets. We were close to the ocean... |
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| Pelican walls |
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| In the forefront, you can see what the site looks like pre-excavation. You can see why they were using the site as a BMX bike course, prior to figuring out what it actually was. |
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| The rooms didn't have doors. Our tour guide said that they were a very trusting, ethical culture. |
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| Geometric pelicans. |
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| Cinday, Carla and I! |
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| This is how the rooms would have all looked if I had been responsible for the decorations. I could have SO rocked the moon-room. |
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| This was their clock. Hmm. |
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| So, there was this natural spring that the palace was built around. |
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| They built the walls in triangles... their way of preparing for earthquakes. |
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| Burial site for the royalty |
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| This is where all of the elders would meet from around the region to discuss important stuff. |
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| Another ugly, hairless dog. |
Huaca de Pucllana
Finally, in Lima, we visited Huaca de Pucllana. I decided that this must have been where all the type B Peruvian natives lived because it didn't seem to be as anally organized.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaca_Pucllana
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| They ate quinoa! |
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| Guinea pigs... a local favorite |
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| Llama! |
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| As taxes, families paid with bricks to the local religious temples. And this pyramid was not hollow. That is a lot of taxes... |
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| Excavation in progress. |
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| Apparently the site extended out 3 blocks further, but not knowing the historical value, it was plowed to make way for apartments, houses, etc. |
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| Wish you were here, Dad. |
The night before flying out of Lima, we were blessed with a beautiful view of the sun setting over the ocean.
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| Gorgeous. |
I'll finish this Blog post, by sharing a cultual saying...
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| Don't worry... everything is going to be alright. |
