24.The doctor's office for fishermen

The first morning before entering work started at 11 a.m. and it ended at 7pm. it was running on the beach.

The sun was just beginning to clear, when dozens of boats that had gone out fishing all night arrived. Impulsively he went to help fishermen push their boats. Some with fishing and others with almost nothing.

-Thank you, doctor- said one of the fishermen who immediately gave him three prawns.

Máxima ordered the prawns with one of her neighbors, and she returned to the beach to run to Same, the neighboring beach,

 It was a 3 km route that had on one side the sea, which erased the beach with the rise of the tide and on the other side rocks.

Almost in the middle was a beautiful almond tree protected from the tide by a stone wall. It was the ideal place to practice some yoga exercises and then meditate.

Time passed very quickly, she could not reach Same. She took the way back. At a hurried pace, she reached the dispensary, where at the moment she only had a mattress on the floor, a small gas stove, some pots, covered dishes.

She showered and put on her doctor's suit. When entering the clinic there were so many patients that she needed to work non-stop to treat them.

"There were many patients today," said Berta the nurse, who already had her purse under her arm to take the bus. "I don't know if I'll get used to this routine." Until I get to my house in Esmeraldas I need at least an hour and a half, and I don't know if my daughter has already done her homework before going to bed, I always help her do her homework from 7 to 9 at night, now I will surely find her asleep.

- For me, it is also a problem, but now I can be with my daughter Monday and Tuesday.

- On the other hand, I cannot go out with my family on the weekends when we have to work.

The first major disagreement with the president of the affiliates was precise because of the schedule. Berta had convinced him that the traditional 8 to 5 pm schedule with an hour to eat at 12 a.m. was better.

-I think we must respond to the contract that set our schedule, if we could not work in this special schedule and that responds to the needs of the fishermen, we should not sign it.

During the time that Máxima worked in this dispensary, she managed to keep that schedule.

One day when she was jogging on the beach, she saw how two criminals came down a path that she had not seen. She came running at full speed and a few meters in front of her they assaulted two tourists who were walking from Same to Tonchigue. For the robbery, they threatened the couple with a broken beer bottle.

-Hey! Don't steal them she yelled, trying to scare the bandits away as she ran towards them, but they escaped down that escaped path on the rock.

She continued running to the marina station, which is on the beach. The sailors called the police and the criminals were captured. This episode made him see that she was in a risk zone, where stealing was apparently commonplace.

After work, she went to have delicious rice with shrimp, which they prepared in a house, where people came to eat, at tables that were placed in the street.

-Is it not raining around here? I ask Manuela the mestizo woman, who cooked with good taste, who sold her food dishes to fishermen and neighbors who stopped eating at home to eat the delicious food that she prepared.

- There is little rain here, maybe two months out of the year.

While she was eating, fishermen came and sat down to eat

- Are you the doctor from the new dispensary? .- They asked, being very friendly.

"Yes. My name is Máxima, nice to meet you," the fishermen immediately shook her hand that she extended.

- What do you think of the schedule from 11 in the morning to 7 at night and from Tuesday to Sunday?

-Great because now we have the doctors from the sub-center who work from Monday to Friday from 8 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon and with you, we will have doctors until 7 at night and on weekends.

- Where is the subcentre? - He asked

- About four blocks in the park next to the school.

That caught her attention because the Peasant Social Security dispensaries must be 8 kilometers from a health sub-center of the Ministry.

The next day in the morning she went to visit the sub-center of the Ministry of Health. It had more doctors, dentists, and nurses than the dispensary, it was old, spacious, but gloomy. The doctor was not there.

For the nurse, the schedule was not to her liking, and during the time she worked in this dispensary she did everything possible to change it, which led to a conflict between the doctor, the president of the affiliates, and the director of the Rural Social Security. that he was the nurse's cousin.

Once again, when she went out to the beach, she learned about the routines of the fishermen and the beach, which was disturbed when a boat unloaded large quantities of fish, which the boats brought and the men loaded.

 

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