A look into the lives of CSU's Current Environmental Health Interns
Tom Hraha's Page
Profile Information
- Current Class Level
- Senior
- Current Intern?
- Yes
- Whats the lowdown about your internship?
- Half of the world is still cooking on an open pit fire within their homes, and the exposure these people get is about equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes per day. So the exposure worldwide is massive. It is a top ten killer worldwide. A possible solution to this problem are fuel efficient stoves that contain a sealed combustion chamber and have a chimney, but little research has been done to determine the effectiveness of this solution. So we are down here in Nicaragua performing health assessments on women and children to determine how well these stoves work and how the indoor air pollution affects people's health.
- About Me:
- I was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. I guess that is why I didn't like Boulder and decided that CSU was a better school for me. The people are a bit more blue collar and down to earth. I came to CSU to ski and ride my mountain bike, but somehow left with degrees in both Environmental Health and MIcrobiology. I also somehow managed to intern at UCLA for a summer and be a part of some student organizations.
Tom Hraha's Blog
From 9 to 5 to 3
Posted on July 8, 2008 at 11:59pm —
Costa Rica Baby!! & The End For Some
Posted on July 8, 2008 at 11:53pm —
A Tough Weekend
Posted on June 17, 2008 at 11:36am — 1 Comment
My first 'official' post
The big news aroun… Continue
Posted on June 17, 2008 at 11:23am —
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I'm sure that you are workings hard... but, I'm also sure that you are getting your share of those palm tree time too... :)
It's 107 degrees in Tucson today... I'll be headed to the pool after I sign off... later... best to all of you in Nic.
Dr. G_
This weekend was an excursion to the island Ometepe, which was created by the two volcanoes that that it houses, Maderas and Concepcion. After traveling for around 5 hours, we reached our habitation for the weekend: an old coffee plantation that has been turned into a hostel. The rooms were cool, but very rustic. They hadn’t really turned them from barn to rooms for living. The second night I found a scorpion by my bed. Since I was with 4 girls, I was the odd man out and had to sleep on a bed that was hard as a rock with no mosquito net. I didn’t get many bug bites, but the hole in the roof did soak me every night when the storms came through.
Saturday we climbed Maderas, the smaller of the two valcanos, because it was supposed to be more interesting and had good views of Concepcion, the larger one. However, the constant cloud that engulfs the valcano made it impossible to see more than 100 feet ahead. It was still really cool ascending the volcano as it starts as a rain forest then transitions into a cloud forest as you increase in altitude. Higher up, the wind would blow clouds through the trees, making it look like smoke winding its way through the branches. It was really cool. The air was just like when you were sick and your mom had you put your face in the humidifier with a towel over your head: very humid. On the way down, a major storm came through and totally soaked us to the bone. We did not even put on our rain coats since we were already wet from the constant mist.
I must apologize for the shortness of the stories. So much has happened here that it is very hard to summarize in such brevity. I think most of these are better told over a beer or cup of coffee. Which reminds me, the coffee plantation had probably the best coffee I have ever had. I drank about 2-3 cups with every meal. It was like hot chocolate. Either way, to circumvent the long updates and keep things more organized, I will try to do a better job updating. Adiopue.
In a few weeks about half the group leaves, leaving just Danielle, Erin and me. Depending on how many more study participants we want to add on top of the 100, we might have some easy work cut out for the last month we are here. There is some talk of working hard for the first couple weeks and then going on some sort of grand Costa Rican or Honduran excursion, but we will see what happens.
Last week the first batch of new stoves came in for the first 20 households. We arrived at El Fortin (the barrio we work in) just as the women were picking them up. The excitement and gratitude they showed made me cry. It totally made all of the work we have done show its impact. I feel like we are a bit invasive when performing all these tests and taking blood from the people. But seeing how thrilled and appreciative they were for the stoves was really touching and made our impact come to life.
My Spanish is really coming along. Danielle and Erin day I am picking it up pretty fast, so that is encouraging thus far. I know enough to get around the market and hotels along with working with the children in the study. Like I said before, I work best with the kids because my verbal skills are just about on par with a shy 6 year old.
Today was one of the most relaxing days I have had in a while. Our house is almost completely open, though completely roofed, and our breakfast table makes for a great place to spend the day playing cards as the rain comes down around you.
Leslie and I have been doing almost all of the cooking for the crew, 11 people in all, and it has been fun trying to feed a hungry army a couple of times a day. Breakfast takes about 16 eggs and a good portion of a 10 pound papaya. Most of our food comes from the local market or the lady who owns the small pulperia across the street. Almost nothing is refrigerated. Eggs, milk, cheese, etc. all come bagged and warm. I guess you get used to it.
The market is entirely crazy and totally filthy. I love it. It is so different than anything else. My previous travels have exposed me to things like that, but this is my life right now. I am not a tourist passing through for the day, but just a guy buying my groceries. The people look at you a bit strange when you are a six foot one green eyed person in a swarm of short brown eyed people. My favorite part of the market is the pinapples, which cost about 12 corbobas (60 cents) a piece. I actually think they are 10 cordobas for the locals and 12 for gringos because they always think about the price for a few seconds then tell me something strange like 12 or 13 cordobas. But I am not very inclined to start an argument over a 10 cent difference. Especially when pineapple is $5 in the States.
Ali and I have decided to take Spanish classes in the afternoons so that we can better communicate with people. This is really the perfect opportunity to learn a new language in an environment where it is perfectly applicable.
The storm is predicted to stick around for the next 72 hours, so we are preparing to head out into the field tomorrow rain or shine. We cannot afford to lose more than a day, since this is the time when we will have the most manpower for the whole trip.
The fieldwork has been quite an adventure. Because I do not know very much Spanish at all, I play more of a supportive role to those who do. On ‘set up’ days, the Spanish speaker will explain to the participants what the study entails and when they will get their stoves. Then she will ask if it is OK for us to enter the kitchen. Then Ali and I will go in and survey the kitchen and decide what the best spot is to set up the exposure monitors (one for particulate matter and one for carbon monoxide). Central American culture is very social, and some women will bring out all the chairs in the house onto the porch to make proper introduction and make small talk before we go to work. These days take much less time than ‘take down’ days, where we download the data and perform the health assessments.
Take down days start with the same introductions and permission to enter the kitchen. The introductions are much shorter since the women are already familiar with our faces. Erin and Judy usually start doing the questionnaires while Ali and I take down the exposure equipment, download the data onto laptops and then do a comprehensive survey of the kitchen area. After the equipment is downloaded, we will go and help Erin and Judy as they are usually just about to start health assessments. Since I am limited by my Spanish, though slowly improving, I will usually perform the blood pressure, finger prick, etc. while Erin or Judy explains to the women what is happening. All in all, depending on how many women are participating, this can take anywhere from one to two hours.
Because we have the exposure monitors in place for 48 hours, our days consist of combinations of set ups and take downs. Sometimes we only have set up days, which do not take much time at all, while other days we will have two set ups and two take downs. These days are very long, very hot, very sweaty and a bit tiring.
Some of the tests are a little bit difficult to perform, making it a bit frustrating at times. Spirommetry especially, because it requires an all out effort by the women, is difficult to get the women to perform properly. I don’t blame them, because sometime it is difficult for me to perform the test properly. You have to forcefully exhale your whole breath as fast as possible into the monitor, which is not as easy as it sounds. Also, these women have such thick calluses on their hands, it is hard to get a good finger prick through them to get a decent blood sample. But these are all issues we are dealing with and should have worked out soon.
My favorite part of the work is being able to play with the kids. Blown up rubber gloves seem to be a hit around the barrio (neighborhood), I blew up about 5 yesterday. Also, I can only speak Spanish on the level of a shy 4 year old, so we are on the same level.
The first few days were a bit of a whirlwind. Not only did I have to figure out the ropes of the field work, but also try to get used to a totally foreign place. Some things are just a bit much at first, like how nothing is refrigerated and that the sewer is the street, but you eventually get used to them. The second night my alarm clock was a marching band on the street at 5AM combined with my probable 3,000th bug bite of the trip. The events that have transpired so far have already made this trip an experience of a lifetime, and I have only been here less than 1/10th of my time.
Truth be told, this place is totally amazing. Even though I have done a ton of traveling growing up, I have never been immersed into a culture like I have been here. The experience of going into these totally poverty stricken areas really makes you think twice about what you have and where you came from. Sometimes you get so caught up in doing your own thing, that you lose perspective. Your calculus grade does not seem that important anymore after you see how happy the people are with what little they have (relatively speaking). It's like 'If this guy is that excited over the half avocado I just gave him (which he took down in about 1.5 bites), maybe I'm missing something'.
I know this is a little brief, but it is late and Linda needs the internet. We have a big, hot and sweaty day tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep.