The Adventure Begins....

October 1, I paid the first month's rent on the new clinic area . This is going to be quite an adventure for me...I have never been in a position to have a clinic or manage a clinic before in my career as a physical therapist.

The room is located on the 2nd floor in a building that is mostly vacant. The KEK office is on the first floor, which is the electric company. There is a post office for mail and telephone service, and there is also a coffee bar at the other end of the hallway on the 2nd floor. The health center is visible from the front door of the building as is my apartment...so it is close to where I was previously treating patients and where I live.

Pastor Randy will be helping to manage the work that needs to be done before I can begin treating patients. A new sink will be installed so that I don't have to go into the bathroom to wash my hands after each patient. There is no hot water in the bathroom so I will need to install an "on demand" 10 liter water heater...so I won't be heating water when I am not in the clinic. That will save on the electric bill...! I also need to install curtains across the entire front wall, which you can see is glass. Most curtains here are a type of sheer fabric, some designs in the fabric are common. I don't mind the sheer fabric, it will allow sunlight to come in but offer some privacy to what is going on in the clinic. Paint...I know nothing about the paint here. In the US, I would ask the guy in the paint aisle what to buy. I have no clue...but I am planning on painting the walls white. You can see the frames of the windows/doors are bright blue, and my waiting area chairs are bright red. Enough said...

I have found a place to purchase an exam stool, no wheels, but it will work. I also located a tri-fold privacy screen, as well as some furniture from an English school. The father of a former patient, will take a truck to Prishtina to pick up the other treatment table that has been in storage for 2 years, and bring it to the clinic in Malishevë for me.

So this next week is about getting started. I hope to be treating patients by the 17th, sometimes things go really slowly here...timing is always an unknown. I am sure I will learn many things in this process...it is always an adventure...