Monday July 3, 2006

Saturday July 1st was the first day of Operation Smile. After having nothing to do for about four days, we were very eager to start work. I was assigned to work in cas/rec, also known as the ships casualty and receiving or their ER. As patients arrived to my section of the ER, my anxiety grew…and so did my patients. Where were my translators? How do I do an assessment on a child without telling the parent what is going on? How to I keep these kids from crying? Where are all the toys? Getting kids to cooperate is extremely difficult!!! Before I knew it, we were consumed with work. Vital signs, x-rays, labs, call report, need food, where’s the water, where’s the bathroom, who’s throwing food, time to transport them to the wards…next in line….chaos surrounded me. It was interesting to see the mesh of both cultures immersed together. Women’s beautiful brightly colored sari’s clashed with the monotonous colors of the blue uniforms and fatigued uniforms of the military.

Happiness, anger, sadness, anxiety, frustration, and relief littered the air. Some of the children were screaming, the women crying. Some were sitting quiet, afraid to say or do anything unless they were found it was ok. Some were laughing and playing, amazed at where they were. Some were nauseous and exhausted from their travels and the rocking of the ship. At one point, there was a food fight led by some of the Bangladesh men. They would not eat the food that we were serving them because they were not familiar to the tastes and textures. To a tongue use to food flavored with spices, a bland turkey sandwich was not appetizing. Frustration and anger ensued from everyone being hungry and cranky. So, to voice their frustration they decided to throw the sandwiches at anyone “foreign” that walked by. You could see and feel the frustration on both sides. It was a very hectic day, but we eventually worked out the differences. Looking back, it must have been scary for them to be in such a strange and unfamiliar environment with different smells, sounds, surroundings and tastes.