Timor Leste

Bon Dia!

That means good morning in Tetun- the language of Timor Leste! It was an amazing experience that has taught me so much.

We had really long days with transfers off the ship as early as 0530 (or O-dark-thirty as we like to call it!) but they were well worth it. Riding on the LCU (the transfer ship that is inside the USS Cleveland) was awesome but a real try for patience on those early mornings sometimes.

You wait for the Cleveland to fill with 9 feet of water (doesn’t sound right I know but it works!) and then the LCU backs out. It was an AWESOME thing to see though, just a little time consuming. It was well worth it when you got to see the patients we helped and become part of the community.

In Timor Leste I worked at various MEDCAP sites distributing medications, got to run a 7K that got routed incorrectly and turned into a 13K, and went to a COMSERV to paint a school that was built by a pervious mission, unload donations for the school and play with the school children.

I marked dosing cups, syringes, and medication vials with a Sharpie to show dosing, I would give all the children their first doses of azithromycin in order to make it easier on the parents for the remaining days (even though it sometimes induced tears) and I would simplify the directions as best I could. For other types of meds like inhalers and creams “show-and tell” worked great. I know it’s not the biggest of things, but any little bit that I could help them understand better made me feel great!Each experience has helped me grow as not only a health care professional, but as a person as well. I’ve met some amazing health care staff and military personnel and become great friends with the people on the ship I otherwise would never have had the chance to meet!

The people of Timor were very kind. Even though there was a language barrier, if you just explained something to them and organized them in the lines through the MEDCAP sites, they soon got the program and followed suit. Being a part of this mission has taught me many things. I have learned I can take the lead on situations and can become very creative to try to simplify things for patients. Many of the people of Timor can’t read English so I started creating different things to help the patience with compliance.

The kids of Timor loved it when you took their pics and getting to see them- it even helped some of them stop crying after an unwanted check-up. I will miss seeing their faces change as they see the pics and the curiosity in their eyes as they approached the pharmacy tent. At each site we say about 600-1200 patients and completed a plethora of scripts, but to me the satisfaction wasn’t in the numbers of patients we saw or scripts we filled; it was in knowing that maybe with my help I made at least one persons day a little better.