MUCPP Day 3


Today Susan, Yvonne, and I worked in the Community Health Center. We arrived at about 8:30am and quickly began our day, which consisted of passing out supplements to patients in need. We weighed the patients, measured the patients' height, and calculated their BMIs. For some of the children we would also take down their head circumference to check and make sure that their head is growing correctly. We saw many people, many of which were malnourished; only about two of the BMIs from the entire day were over 18.5 (the cut off point for being normal weight and underweight).

The table where we worked.

Throughout the day, I was mostly in charge of recording the patient's information. I would take a look at the patients' card (an index card with their name, birth date, and past measurements) that was given to them by the Community Health Center if they had come for nutrition support before. I would write down the patients' name, height (taken today if they were a child, and copied from the note card if they were an adult), weight (taken today), and I would calculate their BMI. I would also write down the date and the date of a follow up appointment if necessary. If they either qualified for nutrition support or continued to qualify for nutrition support we would give them supplements; the children would receive three Pediasure tins and adults would receive four Ensure tins. I would also record what they were receiving and ask for their signature.
In addition to recording information, I also learned how to use the measuring equipment. I already knew how to find out the weight and height of adults and the weight of a child, but I had not yet taken the length of a very young child and/or infant. To do so one must stretch the child out on a mat with the centimeters marked. Today was the first time I had done this. The young children and infants did not seem to like it very much!

After seeing about 20-30 people we had seen everyone that was waiting! It took about 4 hours total.