Hilary Guest Post

 Good morning blog-o-sphere.  Below is a guest post from Hilary Holbrook.  Please look at my previous posts to hear more about her and her ministry in Mexico!

"This has taken a long time for me to write...not because I didn't want to, but rather because I needed to sort through everything going in my head. Everything I saw, experienced and got to be a part of for the past week and a half is more than I can put into words. But I promised Rachel I'd try! Rachel apologized quite a few times that we wouldn't be able to go to the beach and relax. My response was always the same - first of all, I live in San Diego. The entire city is on the beach. Second of all, I'm not here for vacation! I want to live your life with you. 

And that is what I did! Rachel has an office near downtown Jarabacoa that is beautiful - she shares it with a dentist who also works for Students International. She's there Monday and Friday to see patients. Tuesday through Thursday, though, are the days that Rachel lives out her calling. This is where her heart is. As I helped her load up the back of her car with boxes of medicines and bags of supplies, I watched her light up. We took off, picking up Yvenor, her Creole translator (but soooo much more than that - this guy is amazing) and set out. Tuesdays she spends the morning in Coracito. The road was terrible - much like what I've seen in Mexico - not paved and really bumpy. We pulled up to a cinder block building that literally had four walls and a roof - nothing more. I thought for sure this was not where her clinic would be. She saw my reaction and laughed, telling me to get out because we had arrived! Inside was nothing more than a table (just one) and about 4 plastic stools. There was already a line of about ten people waiting for her.We saw lots of patients that morning – many who had high blood pressure, lots of people with colds, a 2 month old, a teenager and older man who Rachel gave glasses to (we watched them light up as they saw for the first time in a long time)… 

Angosto was a very poor community that was really far from downtown, making it difficult for people there to get healthcare. If they even had a moto (which most of them didn't), it was probably about a 30 minute drive on absolutely terribly roads. Ironically, this is her nicest site - in the library of a beautiful school. Again, people were waiting and we had to turn patients away. One of the most cumbersome items we packed and unpacked over and over was her box of patient charts. It took me a couple of days to realize the significance of this box that already had well over 100 charts in it. Since Rachel started her clinics in January, she's seen all of these people. And the part that was so incredible for me to see was they’re coming back. People who haven't been to a doctor in as long as they can remember, people who have dangerously high blood pressure and haven't been able to do anything about it, children who have strep throat...these people know about doctora Rachel and she has become their primary care physician. My job for a few days was to take patient histories on her new patients. There were quite a few times when I went to start a new chart and the person said no, I already have one. I've been here before. 

I don't know if I'll be able to accurately explain this, but that is so huge. In less than 4 months, Rachel has used her God given gifts to create something incredible where there was nothing. She didn't step into this position after someone else left. She started this. All of this. She's created an environment of trust, respect, and incredible dignity for her patients. She's constantly thinking of ways to make things better and more professional in what most people would consider a very unprofessional environment (see my description of Coracito!), even going so far as to sew a curtain to hang up at each of her site in the communities. All this while she's learning a language that she's never studied before and admittedly does not come easy. The day before leaving, I was able to go to the capital with her - about 5 hours round trip - to buy medicine. A large portion of the money we had with us was from her patients. She charges 30 pesos each patient which is about 75 cents and contributes to the environment of dignity and respect that she's created. This allows people to take ownership of their health. Rachel's not handing out free meds left and right like a free for all. Patients have charts. They're instructed to come back for follow up. Rachel explains the 'why' behind everything she does instead of throwing meds at them, expecting them to take them, no questions asked. 

Rachel was so excited to buy meds because finally, finally she could buy what she wanted. She's been giving out meds that were donated to her, which she kept saying she was super grateful for, but weren't exactly what she wanted to have at her clinic. Instead of stocking things like vitamins, Tylenol, Advil, etc that people can buy inexpensively at the hospital pharmacy, she wants to have blood pressure medication. Parasite treatments. Anti fungal meds. Things that are harder and more expensive for her patients to get at the pharmacy in town, and, more importantly, things that require follow up. She wants to see her patients more than once. She wants those charts to become dog eared and full of info about each visit. She wants to see someone's blood pressure lowered week by week because the meds she's prescribed them are working. She wants to educate her patients on ways to control and manage and even prevent their illnesses. I spent a week and a half watching Rachel pour her heart into her work. Work that 4 years ago wasn’t even a thought in her head, but that now is her life. It was such a privilege and encouragement for me to walk alongside my sister, watching her live into what God has called her to as I do the same thing 3000 miles away. I am so thankful for our unique and beautiful friendship and can’t wait until we can work side by side again!"