La Reunion

2/18/09

So today was the meeting with all the CODECOs for Julcan. CODECOs is an abbreviation for Comites de Desarollo Communitario (or something very much like that…abbreviations are sometimes hard to figure out here). Anyway, they are these community groups that are made up of the leaders of the community and they are charged with the development and improvement of their communities. No small task. The health center has taken on the job (or be given) to help organize the CODECOS to meet the health needs of the community and the other larger issues they have…they see it as all being interconnected anyway. So the plan for today was for them to come and go over some of the areas they had identified previously as priorities and meet with some of the leaders/authorities in Julcan and start developing a work plan.

Anyway, so it was interesting to be an onlooker…they of course introduced me as the American doctor although I had no role in the meeting except as an outside observer. About 70 CODECO members and health promoters came…so it was a good showing. And there was also a good turn out by heads of other organizations like education and agriculture. The meeting concluded with each CODECO coming up with a specific list of priorities for their particular communities and a list of what their health promoters should focus on. Anyway, it was nice to see some community health in process.

An added bonus to the meeting was that I got to see Rebecca and Christopher the Peace Corps volunteers. Sometimes it’s just nice to meet a fellow US citizen and swap experiences. Which we did plenty of tonight.

The afternoon was good…Vania, Rebecca and I sat down to review the work plan and try to make a schedule. So I think we have a plan for the next week and half at least. I think I’m finally going to get out and see some caserios (small communities). So YAY! And then another emergency came in…a 20 year old who fell off his bike and his face took a serious beating. So I volunteered to stitch him up…which went well, especially with the help of the very skilled tecnica…(Delicita).

The evening ended with some good discussion with Rebecca and Christopher and now I’m going to sleep.