I had such a great time interpreting for the doctors of the Comfort Ship. So much, that I’m hoping to go back Monday! And the students had the same reaction—of the 8 students we brought, two were already signed up for the next day and four others asked if they could join in for another day! So today we provided 15 interpreters even though our school only got two days off for Easter.
When I got to school at about 6:15 am all the students had already arrived and the bus from the U.N. was there already. It was air-conditioned and comfortable.
Police escort was really cool! Two officers on motorcycle went in front of us and cleared the way so we didn't get stuck in any traffic and there was a police vehicle behind us with 4 officers, flashing lights and siren! The one I talked to was very nice too. At first we were taken to another site where consultations are going on in Cite Soleil by mistake, but then we were taken over to the Admiral Killick Naval Base.
We were all a little disappointed because we ended up working on the base and never getting on the ship. The military personnel were so nice with us and several of them really wanted to take us on a tour at least, but we could see it was difficult for them to make that happen on the first day. (The ship is out in the harbor; we could see it, but you have to take a small boat ride to get to it.) Apparently interpreters will be needed on the ship starting Monday when they start to do surgery. We assured the officers that we were there to help in any way they needed us to. If we had talked them into a tour, they would not have had enough interpreters. As it was, sometimes doctors had to “share” interpreters. For today, we worked in 2 rooms right next to each other and we able to help each other out if someone didn't understand something. We worked with pediatricians, ophthalmologists, dermatologists and other specialists. It was hot in there.
I worked with an emergency room doctor who introduced himself as Andy. We were expecting formality, salutes and everything, but the military medical personnel were all really nice and informal and humble. It's such a small world, he actually knows Richard's cousin Matt Pommer who is a dentist in the Navy because they are both in Virginia Beach. The doctors were anxious to treat as patients as possible and they were very respectful of cultural differences. They were open to explaining things to us if we were interested, which was an excellent opportunity for our students.
My first surprise was that our first patient was deaf! I hadn’t mentioned to anyone that I know sign language, so everybody was flabbergasted when he and I started signing to each other. That was fun. Actually I didn’t understand the young man that well. He seemed to have developmental problems too. And, even though Andy ran to get a specialist who came and examined him too, there was nothing the comfort ship crew could do for him. He looked so sad. But other cases were much more positive. Some were sent right to the surgeons for consultation and are most likely receiving operations this week. Many received diagnoses, medication and vitamins.
Hopefully I'll get to go back on Monday and I'll update you about that.
Carol
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