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Community nursing in Colombia, 16 March 1965.
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- speakerWell it seems to be that we're sitting here three of us, my
- speakerfriends, Amigas meus. That's the only Spanish I
- speakerknow and that goes way back to days in the Philippines.
- speakerBut the two of you are from Colombia miss
- speakerOlivera [Esther Gabriela Olivera] and Miss Berryhill [Verna Eva Elizabeth Berryhill]. And let's say I am formerly
- speakerfrom the Philippines with those two words of Spanish and I am
- speakervery much interested in finding out about
- speakerColombia.
- speakerAnd after all what you really do there
- speakerin this area of nursing in the vast
- speakerarea of medical needs. My thought
- speakerwould be can't we just talk. Can't we just have Fun sitting here.
- speakerMiss Olivera just
- speakerwhat in the world do you do anyhow will you tell me. Well
- speakerI should say it's not easy to explain a few words what we do there.
- speakerBut I'll say that we are public health nurses. We don't
- speakerhave a hospital. And, all the work we do is with the
- speakercommunity in the houses and through the school children.
- speakerIn the houses and families of the
- speakerchildren from the school and also from the church. Now, do do the two of you
- speakerwork together? Do
- speakeryou follow the same? Yes
- speakerwe used to be at team work and we worked
- speakerin Bucaramanga and now when we go back this time. O
- speakerne will go back to work at Bucaramanga and the other will go to Medellin this bigger city. And our church there is smaller.
- speaker
- speakerThe this is really through the church that you do that? Is that? Yes
- speakerthis is and shall we say a Presbyterian work.
- speakerWe work for all the evangelicals there. And it doesn't matter if they
- speakerare Pentecostals or Four Square Gospel or whatever they are
- speakerand our church people too. But, we work for the evangelical people.
- speakerAnd I want to tell you that we don't use the word Christian because all
- speakerthe countries in South America are Roman Catholic. If
- speakerthey are by name only, I don't know, but statistics show
- speakerthat the Roman Catholic population is
- speakermore or mostly by name and they are Easter and
- speakerChristmas, Roman Catholics are really. Any way, we
- speakercan't use the word Christians because then we offend the brothers.
- speakerYou know this interests me immensely because that was our
- speakerwhole approach and something we had to remember in the Philippines
- speakerbecause after all Christians, the Philippines thru the years,
- speakera Christian nation as such with Christmas was Easter.
- speakerAnd it's quite similar. Yes this is doubly interesting that
- speakerwe sort of talk each other's language here. Miss Berryhill we talk your
- speakerlanguage right along too, with even though we've been
- speakerseparated by years and oceans and what have you. Well as I
- speakersaid this is this is really fun. Miss Berryhill you were Miss
- speakerOlivera has gotten us into this now.
- speakerWhat really? Could you give us an idea give me an idea of what a
- speakerday is in in the life of the two of you maybe chatting back
- speakerand forth. What do you do specifically.
- speakerMy day is a day of wonderful opportunity there. There are public
- speakerhospitals it's true, but people come in from rural areas and go to the
- speakerpublic hospital and often of the hundred or 150 people who go to the different
- speakerclinics at 7:00. They often can only see 50. So you see that during the
- speakerday. We're often asked to see people who've tried the hospital first and haven't been able to be
- speakerseen and then have come to our dispensary in the church
- speakerin the Presbyterian Church. And then of course after we've seen them, we
- speakerdo have friendly doctors. They are not members of our church yet, but they are friendly to
- speakertheir cause because they feel that we're trying to help their people. May I interrupt
- speakerjust a second.
- speakerYou said the clinic in the church. Yes that's right. I
- speakerhave it all right in that church.
- speakerWell it's not in the building our church. The sanctuary is separate because it's very
- speakernecessary.
- speakerYou see many people we have come are actually
- speakermembers or baptized members of the Catholic Church. And, they would be excommunicated if they
- speakercame inside the sanctuary. So we have our dispensary attached.
- speakerIt's part of an old house that 50 years ago belonged to some of the first missionaries there. It was the
- speakerold missionary house. Mr. Allan [Alexander Macdonald Allan] in his days almost 50 years ago had this
- speakerhome. And, this is where we hold our dispensary. The people can come to this
- speakerarea without any danger. Of course we have many people come. We, last year
- speakerbecause we offer prenatal care and the hospital is not able to do this. By the way, in in
- speakerour city of more than 180,000 people, there are three registered nurses.
- speakerA friend of ours who's in consultation from the
- speakerfederal government in its consultation and nursing, Gabriella and
- speakermyself were the only three registered nurses in the whole city. And of course this woman that
- speakercame was the priest's secretary. I don't think it's any secret to know that the people
- speakerI've heard that we are able to give prenatal care. Because the hospital still cannot
- speakerdo it and the doctors are overburdened with work. They're wonderful but it is so much work,
- speakerand it does cost a lot of money and time. So we were able to give prenatal care. Plus see a
- speakerlot of people many many people I should say come from the rural areas. They get up early
- speakerin the morning about two. They go as far as it can. We are near the Magdalena River. They
- speakercome by mule back, by other means, because we're very short of trunk roads
- speakerand this hasn't been fully developed yet. And then of course they come a distance by
- speakerrail road or by one of those multi-use buses that carry animals and people and
- speakerchildren cargo and cargo throughout the country. They come to see
- speakerus. And, of course, if it's possible, we try to find a place to stay with someone from the
- speakerchurch or some friends or you see we use the contacts from our
- speakerschool and from our church. If this is not possible, then we have extra mats and
- speakersometimes they can stay with a friend or with us. If we were really doing
- speakerthis with a cup of tea apiece or the cup of coffee.
- speakerCoffee is my biggest meal. We have good coffee in Bucaramanga. We were
- speakerreally doing this with that coffee
- speakerI'd probably take a swallow about here and say May I ask another question.
- speakerWhere Miss Gabriela.
- speakerMiss Olivera where do you get your medicines
- speakerfrom? What's the story of. Do they just sort of roll in
- speakerlike a lot of pills by the thousands. What is the story there? We have different sources for our medicines when we are here on
- speakerfurlough we recieve many free samples of different doctors in the churches
- speakerfurlough we recieve many free samples of different doctors in the churches
- speakerand we take as much as we can but that doesn't last too long. So
- speakerwe have we have to buy the medicines and that is our problem because
- speakerour budget is very very small. And the time
- speakercomes when we don't have the money and so much need. So we asked the
- speakerpatients to pay whatever they can. Shall we say five
- speakercents US or 10 cents US or what ever they can or even if they
- speakercan't nothing.
- speakerWe just use the medicines we have and that that is our
- speakerbig problem.
- speakerYou might say that from the summer offering for medical mission. Yes it may
- speakerwork in South America in particular in Colombia and benefits each year one
- speakernurse receives about 250 to 300 dollars. And with that we can see
- speakerabout 3000 to 3500 patients. In other words, we can buy medicine
- speakerwholesale. If people can't pay they pay the first time and pay a portion of it
- speakerif they can't. We don't refuse anyone.
- speakerAnd of course we will always depend upon gifts from our
- speakerfamily and from friends to be able to buy more medicine because
- speakerthe problems in Colombia of malnutrition and tropical
- speakerdiseases including malaria and yellow fever are very very tremendous.
- speakerAnd they say as far as medical statistics in Colombia
- speakerthat more than 50 percent of the children die from birth to age five years
- speakerfrom malnutrition and from communicable diseases. Of course we have a high birth rate but we
- speakeralso have a high death rate. There are only two hospital beds in the cities per thousand
- speakeradults. Come again! two hospital beds per thousand adults. That's the
- speakerpresent per capita situation of the
- speakerhospitals in the country in that. And, most doctors are
- speakerconcentrated in the cities of course where they have good facilities.
- speakerBut Columbia is still a rural country with more, more than 65 percent of the
- speakerpeople living in the rural areas. Which brings up another problem were problems of housing
- speakerchallenges of housing as people are living in the rural areas not only since the violence in
- speaker1948 but also since they feel that they must have some education for their
- speakerchildren. An average rural education in Columbia is Grade 3 or grade 4 they need 6 grades of education. And of course it's not always available. In
- speaker
- speakera picture in my mind. Here's a little girl in grade 3. Studying
- speakerthe elements of mathematics and of course is not unlike the United States. Her
- speakerparents long ago have been unable to help her with
- speakerher school or with her homework because they had no more than two grades
- speakereducation. If they do. Our education in Columbia is geared to
- speakerstrictly well it's geared to an education
- speakerthat will prepare them for high school and for university but only two
- speakerpercent are able to go.
- speakerYou just you have these Pictures on here on the table and
- speakerthe interesting. You were talking about this one.
- speakerMiss Berryhill. Are any of these pictures along here, Miss Olivera, that you sort of
- speakerjust like to refer to that remind you of a story or of a person or someone that might bring something to mind
- speakerjust like to refer to that remind you of a story of a person or someone that might bring something on.
- speakerWell the most important thing really to know is
- speakerthat they want to learn. They want to be able to
- speakerhave an education. But the curriculum is so high
- speakerthat they can't finish. They maybe they go three
- speakeryears the city primary years to school and then they have to quit then they start to work and they
- speakerlearn some trade by working and that we have
- speakeralmost all the children in our school. They have to
- speakerstop going to school and start to work. And that
- speakerthat is the only future they have. There is no future and maybe they
- speakerwill be. They will have a little place where they fix
- speakercars or maybe they have a little carpenter shop but they don't know the
- speakertrade really. They do what ever they can with their hands. And I used to
- speakertell Betty that they do their work with their hands with their teeth and
- speakerwith their nails because really I don't know how they work. And here I have a picture
- speakerof beautiful. What do you call that? It's
- speakera monkey wrench set that was sent. And, this young man is 12 years old and he's
- speakerreally having an advantage of being able to finish in our schools. His brother
- speakerstarted as an apprentice to a mechanic with three tools
- speakerwhen he was age nine. Now of course he's a mechanic. But this boy is able to
- speakerfinish in the primary school and be able to go to high school. He has hope of the future. Just
- speakerbecause someone cared.
- speakerWell before we really go out and get some coffee or something like
- speakerthat, let's back up maybe just one second. One more question. And
- speakerwhat you may have referred to it. I'm sure you did. But, it may have just
- speakerslipped by me. To what extent do the two
- speakerof you, you referred to the clinic attached to the church and
- speakerall. To what extent do the two of you go from place to place? Do you
- speakerhave a sort of a? Do you visit the homes? Do you have a sort of a traveling
- speakerclinic program? Yes. Too, could we just briefly sort
- speakerof say goodbye to this talk with a little information on that.
- speakerI hope you will stop me if I don't explain it clearly but
- speakerto all our work is done.
- speakerGoing to the homes and there we I mean we are midwives also and
- speakerwe used to deliver babies and go to the houses and take care of the mother during
- speakerthe labor time. And then after, we followed the mother
- speakerthree, four, five days with home visits and
- speakerI will say that in the five years we were doing this, we never, thanks to the Lord,
- speakerhad any postpartum or infection or anything like that. And, we
- speakerdidn't give the mother any antibiotic shots to prevent
- speakerthis. We think that they should be able to
- speakerrecuperate themselves without any antibiotic or were
- speakergiven them by them and giving them the proper care in the house but nothing
- speakerelse that. We are very happy to know that all these children we deliver
- speakerare in good health as they were in good
- speakerhealth until we left.
- speakerAnd I don't know now. You know I knew the three of us
- speakerhad something in common because when you talk about
- speakerbeing midwives You remind me very very much
- speakerthat, what is it 20 years or so ago way way up in
- speakerthe hills of the Philippines in the jungles and in the pig hunting country.
- speakerI helped a midwife of the Philippines
- speakerbring a baby into this world and it was one of the most thrilling
- speakerexperiences. That. Well, I'll just never forget it.
- speakerSo you see look three midwifes a together Ha, Ha, and
- speakerthat's a joke.
- speakerBut listen this has been just wonderful.
- speakerI hope you get a chance to hear you. We feel the church is there. It may
- speakernot be in a sanctuary or a special place but the church and your house and every
- speakercommunity where we have been able to share with other Christian
- speakerfriends in Latin America. The church is there and it's reaching out. And we've been able to help
- speakertrain many people in these new areas Lancer progress. We're all for it
- speakerbecause we've been able to go in and have us share from our church
- speakerin teaching first aid and teaching so many things that people have asked for, where they have no
- speakerdoctor and no drugstore. This is just a little bit of the sharing we've been able to do. And
- speakerthere's the church working because God has given it an
- speakeropportunity in these days to do it to do its job
- speakerand to witness.
- speakerAnd I'm just wondering how well how long we'll be able to be there is
- speakerone question, but also whether you are there,
- speakerwhether you're there sharing in this marvelous opportunity we have in
- speaker1965 and on through the years. People don't have very
- speakerlong to live. They have about 45 years life expectancy. 50 percent of the babies
- speakerdied before the age five. There are many challenges and
- speakerwomen and men today are sharing in this wonderful challenge
- speakerwhere the church is reaching out to help its own.
- speakerMiss Olivera I wonder either in English or
- speakerin Spanish if we might not just the
- speakerthree pray together if you would sort
- speakerof lead us in a little prayer that would be the three of us praying
- speakeras we hope that everyone across this
- speakercountry would be praying with us as they hear you.
- speakerWould you ? The only thing I could
- speakerdo it in English.
- speakerIt would be the Lord's Prayer because if you need to speak
- speakerEnglish I will repeat it in Spanish although I don't think it will.
- speakerWell I was thinking just of a little prayer from your
- speakerheart as you might feel it. You wanted to pray
- speakerin English for the work that you are doing
- speakeror even in Spanish to sort of. It seems to
- speakerme that we we just like to say good bye to this
- speakerparticular little session together.
- speakerHow was your view of it. Right. But I should say.
- speakerSome say Christos, mi corazon audios.R
- speakerepeat it in English.
- speakerChrist breaks the bonds and gives me joy. How is it possible to live
- speakerwithout him? It's the foundation stone of my life. Thou art
- speakeryou who liberates me from eternal death. How can I live one day
- speakerwithout Jesus Christ. This is the prayer of a man from the
- speakerplains as he rides along on horseback and thinks of all that Jesus Christ means
- speakerto him in Colombia today and the joy and the peace and the hope
- speakerthat he finds in him.
- speakerthat he finds in him.