For the last week I got the chance to experience a carreta for the third time this summer. Pablo and I ventured to the state of Mato Grosso for about 6 days. However, unlike before, this carreta’s focus is a little different. Unlike the first two times where the carreta focused on breast cancer and cervical cancer, this carreta focused on skin, cervical and prostate cancer. This carreta also takes prevention a step further than just screening. Patients are able to get surgery on the truck to remove any small cancerous skin lesions.

Anyways, Id like to dedicate this post to the amazingness that is this carreta. In my next post Ill talk a little more about the people who staff the carreta and cities it visits. While the people who man the carreta are a flavor of hero all their own, they wouldn’t be able to do their work without this amazing unit.

So here is a day in the life of a mobile unit:

Before Arrival:

Like all the other units, a nurse is in charge of a town. He/She attends a training and organizes the entire visit (more details about their job later as well). Meanwhile the carreta is en route from the previous city!

Day of:

7:45 am: The carreta pulls up to set up and be open by 8am.

Usually the road around the carreta is blocked off.

Set up includes organizing paperwork and unstrapping all the materials/equipment. These high-tech vehicles are designed to screen for cervical, skin and prostate cancer as well as perform small surgeries (as I mentioned earlier). This means that this prevention mobile is equipped with a room to perform pap smears, a pap smear waiting room, a small “copa” (tiny breakroom/kitchen) that also doubles as an office. There is also a room to carry out skin lesion assessments and prostate cancer exams (also with a tiny waiting area). Lastly a room to perform small scale surgeries.

8am: The carreta is ready to go (patients have already been lined up for quite awhile)

8 am- 9:30am: Pap smears are conducted by one nurse for 50 patients

8am- 10am: Skin lesion examinations are conducted by a doctor for 40 patients.

10am-12pm: Prostate cancer examinations are conducted by a doctor for 40 patients while the nurses are in the office preparing for the skin lesion surgeries.

12pm-1pm: LUNCH BREAK

1pm-2:30pm: Skin lesions surgeries are conducted.

2:30pm-3pm: The carreta is packed up and taken back to a parking spot to relax. However, on some days, there is no rest and the carretas must then drive on to the next city.

 

So as you can see, carretas often have extremely busy days. They are constantly filled with exams, surgeries, or equipment. But what’s so absolutely amazing is that all of this is done in a trailer the size of a semi-truck. Picture your entire family clinic or the prevention department of a hospital picked up, shrunk to the size of a semi-truck trailer and put on wheels. And then picture how most of the time, this carreta attends to one city a day, 6 days a week all over Brazil.

It’s a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of lives saved.

And it is because of that that I would have to argue that carretas are one of the most amazing concepts ever developed. A mechanical superhero of sorts. And I think a lot of countries with areas of low access to health care could learn a lot from these mobile units, the USA included.