Continued rains swelled the river past dangerous levels destroying the Pisaq bridge and stranding us in Coya. The water level reached the power station and shut it down, right in the middle of an operation. The generator was kicked on,but Guido and I went to Calca to get more gas and batteries for the clinic.
We got back and found out the government clinics were closed, so that meant Clinica Kausay Wasi was now the only hospital in the region functioning. No sooner had we gotten back, we found out a truck full of people tumbled down a hillside, killing one and injuring 20. We were no longer a medical team helping kids, we were an ER providing first line care.
Patients rolled in hours after the crash, one man with a life threatening fractured femur and another with a crushed hip. That man screamed out in pain as the doctors attended to him, while his pregnant wife, who luckily was in another vehicle on their way to her scheduled maternity exam, watched helplessly. A woman with her scalp torn off and fractured ribs shook uncontrollably, and a another endured the torture of having her lips and gums sewed in the lobby after being sewed up in the lobby. The serious ones were then sent to a vehicle exchange point at a footbridge to get them to Cuzco. We later found out that they got there, but waited hours, if ever, to be seen from the last report. The way government hospitals work, if you have money, you get seen. If not, maybe never.
Some of us took off to see what the Vilcanota(Urubamba) River was doing. People were digging up soil to fortify the levy protecting their homes from the river, which was above the home level already.
It was amazing to see these doctors drop their mission and switch to a mode not in their playbook. The clinic had an able staff, but the onslaught of medical expertise at hand to help these unfortunate people made a real difference. Today, lives weren’t simply changed, lives were saved by their presence here. Heck, even I got to pitch in. When the lights went off, there was nothing in the OR to see by, so I brought in the Light Panel Micro Pro Photo Supply loaned me last minute to illuminate the room, aiding a critical procedure until the generator started.
The Qechuea word of the day is Oohspoli- thank you.
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