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U.S. Doctors Deliver Care to Disadvantaged Girls in Panama

Medical team visits group home in Colón to give 70 residents checkups

When Sister Aida heard the U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort had docked in the city of Colón, Panama, July 5, she wanted to take all 70 residents of her Catholic home for young girls to the clinic for checkups, but she knew that would not be feasible. Instead, Sister Aida took only 8-year-old Irina, who had suffered from gastrointestinal problems for over six months.

The San Vicente de Paúl home in Colón takes in young girls from poor families around Panama, many from rural villages without secondary schools. Sister Aida and Sister Sofia, with whom she manages the residence, provide primary schooling to the younger girls, and the home serves as a residence for older girls studying at secondary schools elsewhere in the city. Sister Aida and Sister Sofia are members of the Daughters of Charity of San Vicente de Paúl in Colón, a religious order founded in Panama by a group of French nuns in 1872 as the French were beginning work on the Panama Canal.

Sister Aida explained to USINFO July 7 that the home only takes the poorest of the poor. "We accept those who have nothing," she said. Consequently, many of the children arrive suffering from malnutrition and worms.

This was apparently the case with Irina, according to nurse practitioner Kristin Cahill, who examined the child at the Comfort's clinic. After providing Irina with medication and vitamins to strengthen her constitution, Cahill asked Sister Aida if there were other children at San Vicente de Paúl whom the Comfort's medical staff should see. When she learned how many girls lived at the home, Cahill decided to take a group of doctors and nurses to visit them.

"It is a blessing from God that they came here," Sister Sofia said when the doctors arrived. "Clearly we could not take all of the children to the clinic." She was particularly grateful that the doctors brought free medications and vitamins for the children.

Sister Aida said the home typically takes new residents to the doctor when they arrive and provides them with balanced meals and vitamins in an effort to rebuild their strength. But after their initial visits to the doctor, she said, the girls receive limited medical attention - usually only when they fall ill.

The doctors and nurses gave each child a physical exam and inspected the children's teeth for cavities. A dental technician gave the girls lessons in good oral hygiene and applied fluoride sealants to their teeth to help prevent future cavities.

Cahill said she was impressed that most of the young girls were in good health. "They're well taken care of," she said. "The school does a good job with nutrition, and clean water helps a lot." She said the most serious problems the doctors found were a case of persistent abdominal pains, allergies, cavities and strained eyes in need of reading glasses. "This is obviously a place that cares about the children," she said.

At the end of the day, the doctors only felt the need to take three of the girls back to the ship for additional tests.

The U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort is currently on a four-month tour of Latin America and the Caribbean, providing primary health care and minor surgery to the people of the region, training local health care professionals and rehabilitating local clinics.

Source: U.S. Department of State