IGIVE - Initiation of Giving Internationally through Volunteer Experiences

Hard work pays off! Take a look at those beautiful pictures! We were so grateful to have spent time in Amazon rainforest at amazing Arrowpoint resort, hiking and kayaking and just "liming" (chilling - Guyanese) around!

Guyana 2018

Hi everyone!

Today was a very special day for our team not just because it's our last day of clinic, but also because we got to practice in the actual health center in the very rural village located in Long Creek, Guyana. As I mentioned previously, it was getting harder to dispense what was prescribed to patients because we were running low on our formulary. However, today we got so much help from local practicing physician who not only welcomed us in their facility, but was gladly supplementing us with medications on a case by case basis.
Patients we saw today were much different from those we saw in the past three days. Most of them were with below elementary school level of literacy and they couldn't read simple instructions. A lot of people didn't have refrigerator or even electricity at home, and we had to go out of our way to counsel them on how to store their reconstructed antibiotics. But despite all these difficulties, it was heartwarming to know that we did something for those patients. They, in turn, did something for us as well without even knowing it. They reminded us that simple things matter. That life is beautiful and precious even without tons of material stuff we get to enjoy back home. They reminded us that even little attention and kind word counts, and may even be more healing than a medication.
I am leaving Georgetown with a sense of accomplishment and pride... and I am looking forward to come back and give more to those in need.
I wanted to thank Dr. Gim for this wonderful opportunity and my amazing supervisor and now friend Dr. Karina Muzykovsky. She was finding solutions to sometimes very difficult situations during our time here to make sure our patients left clinic with medications they needed the most.

As I promised, the album with pictures is coming in just couple of days! So, please come back to check on them.

Thank you so much to all who supported this trip whether it was a donation or words of courage. It meant a lot to us and myself personally. Please feel free to share this experience with your friends! As for our students at LIU pharmacy, I can't wait to see you at the professional development program (PDP) and to share this wonderful experience with all of you. Time and date TBD.

With warmest Regards,

Elena Khachaturyan
PharmD candidate, 2019

Hi y'all! Sorry, couldn't post last night because of slower then usual connection.

Yesterday was the third day of clinic, and by now pharmacy is running like a smooth whale oiled machine! We saw 115 patients, which included over 30 children. Most adult patients we managed today had chronic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension and various heart diseases. Unfortunately, there were 4-5 patients with hypertensive crisis or severe hyperglycemic episodes. All patients were appropriately assessed and managed to our best ability in the clinic and discharged on respective chronic medications.
By far, Victoria clinic had the most number of cardiac medications dispensed, which again tells us the kind of population we are generally treating: mostly middle aged and elderly with a number of chronic conditions.
Its getting harder and harder to improvise in terms of therapeutic substitutions as we are running out of medications, but our doctors are opened to suggestions, dose modifications and are very supportive.

Let's see what today brings us! We are very excited!

Best,

Elena

Hello!

The second day of clinic is officially over! We are tired but very happy with the services we provided today. Of note, we saw 122 patients today!
I wanted to start with two incredibly meaningful interventions we did today. Earlier in the day Dr. Muzykovsky and I were filling and dispensing medications, and counselling our patients, and upon talking to one of them Dr. Muzykovsky noticed that patient was confused about every medication that was prescribed to her. It turned out, that patient's name was on the form (and was correct) but she didn't get to see a doctor yet. She was prescribed medications by mistake without being seen because wrong forms were handed to the doctor once it got very busy in triage. After we corrected the situation, patient got to see the doctor and was prescribed correct medications. She was extensively counseled and left clinic happy. We, on the other hand, started using two forms of identification to make sure right patient gets right meds.
Another intervention happened when we counseled mother of three on one of her children's medications. Her five months old was prescribed calamine for rash, and we were explaining how to apply it on the baby's affected area. After we were done, mom asked how to give this medication by mouth. This was when we got a little scared, so we had to repeat everything over to make sure she understood that it was strictly topical medication. Patient was an immigrant from Brazil and didn't speak a good English, so she couldn't understand what we were telling her at first.
In general I was very happy that I got so spend time with most patients because we got help filling medications from our wonderful nurses. Patients appreciate counseling, simple kind words and little attention. I was overwhelmed with joy and the priveledge to provide it to them.
Two more days of clinic to go! Come back for more posts and take care.

Again, I can't upload pictures because of very slow internet. The album is coming in just a few days! Hope you'll enjoy it.

Guyana clinic day 1: Sophia, Georgetown.

Hello everyone!

Today was our first day of clinic, and we were incredibly excited to see our patients! Sophia (or Sapphia as referred to by the locals) clinic is located in Georgetown, Guyana in a church and is considered the busiest out of the four clinics the team usually volunteers at. Because of its location, patients know exactly when U.S. healthcare providers will be there and are waitkng for them on the day of service. Besides being the busiest, this clinic also services the greatest number of pediatric patients as the Guyanese tend to have large families.
So, let me tell you a little bit about our workflow. We arrived to the clinic around 9 a.m., and immediately started to set up the pharmacy. It is really important that the pharmacy is ready by the time the first few patients are seen by the providers to ensure smooth service can begin. I was very lucky to have Dr. Karina Muzykovsky, who works as a critical care pharmacist at The Brooklyn Hospital Center in N.Y., as my supervisor. We also had two wonderful nurses on our team - Joyce and Claire, who helped us fill, label and dispense medications. The four of us were running the pharmacy today and will continue to do it until our last day of clinic on Thursday.
Unfortunately, patients who came to clinic today are not able to see doctors and pharmacists anywhere else despite free Government healthcare and medications that are generally available in the hospitals. The reasons for that are lack of public transportation and resources, long distances, literacy level, etc. As volunteers come twice a year, patients get their medications only at that time. This gets very complicated since many adult patients have chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and are not always able to get full 6 months supply of essential meds to control their diseases. For example, today we saw two critical patients - both middle aged females, one with blood pressure 200/110 mmHg, and another one with blood glucose 470 mg/dL. Fortunately, both were managed at the clinic and were ok after we administered proper medications. For hypertensive patient we administered 0.1 mg clonidine and re-checked blood pressure later. She was discharged with three months supply ramipril and atenolol. And for hyperglycemic patient we administered 2.5 mg glyburide twice within an hour. It was done to prevent hypoglycemic episode, which patient stated happened to her before while she was on this medication. Both ladies were not taking their medications as prescribed prior to our arrival, and as a result were not able to control their chronic diseases. All these factors were the reason Dr. Muzykovsky and I wanted to spend more time today on counseling every single patient on the importance of taking their medications properly. Thankfully, almost every single patient appreciated that kind of attention and expressed their gratitude by thanking and hugging us, which I thought was so special!
We saw a total of 108 patients today about third of them being pediatric patients. It was amazing how patient and calm those people were while waiting to see a doctor or to get their medications, and we tried our best to minimize waiting times. Every patient dropped their prescription off at the pharmacy station and got counseled when they picked it up. And I still can't believe we pulled it off!
Today I've done something that brought an indescribable sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, and I can't wait to see what the following days have to offer. Please, stay tuned for more posts and pictures!

P.S. I will be posting more pictures from today soon. Unfortunately, Wi-Fi is slow and doesn't allow anymore photos to upload.

Interested in doing a rotation abroad or learning about pharmacy outside of the US? Come check out our PDP tomorrow at 11 am in room HS 121 and hear first hand about some of our fellow student’s experiences. Hosted by iGIVE

Day 4 (August 9)

Today was another day at the Linden Clinic. We seen over 80 patients and were to dispense 6 month supplies on many chronic medications such as Metformin, Enalapril, Aspirin, Telmisartan and Amlodipine.

Also, we had an incidence where a patient came in with her blood glucose level at 23. The patient passed out despite efforts to administer fast acting glucose. The nurses administered D5W and the patient woke up shortly after. We were able to find out that the patient self administered insulin without testing or monitoring her blood glucose level. After counseling and speaking to the patient, we adjusted her therapy and asked her to follow up with her primary clinic regarding her insulin dosage.

At the end of the day, we prepackaged supplies for a health fair at Linden. We then made a separate parcel for Georgetown and the next trip in March.

We will keep you posted on tomorrow's last day at the clinic

Let’s Go Fishing!!

Fundraiser for

Honduras & Guyana Mission Trips

$40.00 per person includes all fishing equipment as well as food & drink. ALL proceeds will go to furnish medical supplies for the Mission trips. Come join us! Great party environment. Raffles & Prizes. Bring friends & Family! Help Dr. Gim & team provide supplies to the people in need. Contact Fernando Gonzalez to reserve a spot.

We will be leaving from Captain Dave’s boat 2498 Emmons Ave Brooklyn in Sheepshead Bay.

Please E-mail at [email protected] ASAP if interested. We will collect funds at the boat. We only have room for 100 people.

An achievement that was only possible for iGIVE and its supporters ❤️