Hola

Today was the final day. This morning we went for our final meeting with the students of Xsochicalco as well as the president and vice president of the university. We lamented over our stay and briefly discussed what we enjoyed most about our visit. It was harder for me to say goodbye than expected. I have truly been overwhelmed by the kindness of everyone as well as grown accustom to such great hospitality. Due to the unreliable internet in our hotel, it has been very hard to maintain my blog with any consistancy. So, I will try and catch everyone up to speed on what we presented last night. We did find that most women receive regular "pap" smears. However, less than 10% knew the cause of cervical cancer. In general, the women surveyed were informed about the importance of the "pap" test by doctors, nurses, and the local media. This brief survey was bale to provide some minor insight as to what some of the gaps in education are pertaining to cervical cancer and cervical cancer screening. Tomorrow morning we will be leaving Ensenada and returning to Las Cruces. I am eager to be home, but sad to leave at the same time. After I finish unpacking, I will post a blog to reflect upon what I've learned and what I hope to do with this new knowledge. Until then

Adios!

Hola 

 All is well in Ensenada. Today, we surveyed around 200 women in local clinics and hospitals. The questionnaire we designed we designed in a manner that will "hopefully" give us a  better understanding of the gaps in education pertaining to cervical cancer. Yesterday was the most amazing part of the trip so far. I was able to sit in on a birth, perform two vaginal examinations to determine cervix dilation and assist in performing two ultrasounds.  Unfortunately, I woke up with a chest cold yesterday and haven't felt well since. However, I do not plan on letting a little cold get me down. Tomorrow we will be presenting our findings from the survey to local government officials. Stay tuned to find out what we have learned about the health disparities in Ensenada.

Until then Adios.

Ashley Scitern

First day in Ensenada, Baja California Mexico

Today was my first official day in Ensenada, Baja California. A group of us arrived this last Friday, and have been working very closely with the medical students from the Xochicalco University. Our group is comprised of three MPH student from the Fred Hutchinson University in Seattle, Washington, and four students from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Tomorrow we will be visiting local clinics to observe how the health care system works in Mexico. We will also be formulating a few questions based on the experiences we will have in the local clinics to design a questionnaire as part of a public health intervention. We will survey around 100 locals and then analyze the data. The goal of our survey is to obtain information pertaining to cervical cancer in Mexican women and generally to have a better understanding of the common perceptions, myths, and or utilization of the "pap smear" in detecting HPV as well as cervical cancer in local Hispanic women. Stay tuned to find out how the visit to the local clinics went; until then Adios!

Testing the New Blog

This is a test of the blogger service for Aggies Go Global.