Thursday, July 10, 2008

Terri...the new pharmacist

There is a lot going on at the local medical clinic. Whenever you begin to remodel, everything else seems to look dingy-- like moving into a new home with old furniture. So, after Terri repainted her own office, and after we remodeled one of the emergency rooms, the hospital decided it was time to do a little painting! While Terri and I were in Europe Avalino was busy painting the hallways, and many of the offices, of the entire clinic. It used to be a bright aqua color; now it is a nice serene tan/almond color.

Dr. Toledo is on leave, perhaps for as long as three months, so Terri and the rest of the staff are really going to have to step up to fill the vacancy. They have been getting some temporary help from doctors from Saipan, but for the most part Terri and Arley Long have been doing a great job running the clinic, with the help of the nurses and other staff.

Several of the nurses may be leaving the clinic to go to work on Saipan. Saipan is desperate for medical personnel and are offering great incentives to come to work there, so all of the nursing staff have been pondering a move, and several are already scheduled to leave. This will leave the clinic in a bind until they can find others nurses to fill the vacancies.

The one pharmacy tech who runs the clinic's pharmacy is on leave for 2 weeks as well. Since Terri's license also covers the dispensing of medications, she is stepping in to cover until they can get a temporary pharmacist or their employee comes back from Saipan.

With a small clinic like Tinian has, and as isolated as it is, any problems or changes that occur can have a dramatic effect on the operation of the clinic. Each and every person working at the clinic has an important and critical function that helps keep the clinic open and operating well in serving the people of the island.

The clinic has had a great addition to its staff, as it finally has a dentist working full-time at the clinic. The dentist transferred here from Rota.

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