My job was to do the lab work that the Plenty midwives and nurses were ordering for the patients who came to the camp clinic. Usually I analyzed stool samples for parasites. My main job was to look under the microscope to find parasite eggs, which were usually pretty big, making them easy to diagnose. We had a huge record book where I recorded the patient’s name and what parasites they had. Everybody had at least three different parasites, two microscopic, and one round worm that was pretty big. If they took the medicine that expelled the worm, the Guatemalans would come back and explain they had pooped out ‘spaghetti,’ which was the white worms, the ascaris. They would generally be re-infected within a month or so. The stomach problems would start all over again until we set up a water project and were able to treat the cause of the problem, which was drinking contaminated water. Then we were able to help people avoid taking strong medicine and suffering with a stomachache until we got rid of the worms. Everybody who worked down there (except Darryl Jordan) got something.
