Rooms were packed with 10 patients and their families at a time, birds would fly around overheard. The floors were filthy, nothing seemed clean and it was miserably hott and muggy. the children only have clothe diapers which were being hung out on a porch to dry between cleanings.
i cannot even imagine that being a hospital in the US. especially after my recent ER visit. Doctors live in the hospials here and we asked one how much he got paid and he said about 300 dollars a month in US currency. My part time job pays that much a week.
Dr. Medina is a doctor in Leon and he works with El ayudante. He is giving up his only vacation week to work with us at the clinics. He said that the pediatric ICU he works with has only 2 venitllators and about 10 or more premature babies at a time that need one. He told us that ultrasounds are only availble for the upper class and many women have only 1 or none . the version of ultrasound is not as high tec as ours these days...they are the most basic. Dr. Medina shared that the highest cause of mortality is perinatal due to women working hard labor jobs while pregnant and poor prenatal care. Most have premature births. He says he sees mostly 12 and 13 year olds giving birth.
It was touching to hear about his dedication to his job and this country.
It was touching to hear about his dedication to his job and this country.
We went around Leon after the hospital and saw the oldest cathedral in the western hemisphere,. A catholic mass was going on in spanish. There were large murals and statues/sculptures all around the cathedral. I have never seen anything quite like it. It was beautiful.
We also went to a wall where grafiti depicts the story of Samosa's assassination/ Sandinista revolution. Somosa took aide money after a volcano errupted that was meant to be used to rebuld the country and instead used it for himself. He was an evil dictator basically. The US backed him up because the underground Sandinista's were against Samosa's and the Sandinista's were a communist party and of course the US hates communism...especially at this time during the cold war.
Today a Sandinista is in power in Nicaragua but the government is considered a republic.
We went to the sight of the massacre where Samosa's army killed university students who were sandinistas and protesting against samosa. There was a wall graffiti mural depicting that image as well.
The site now holds a basketball court.
We stopped for a beverage at a cafe near the cathedral and will be having dinner there later in the week. On the wall was art portraits of the famous poets from Leon...Ruben Dario being one of them. Leon, being home of the university is considered a artsy place. I felt so pleased that my pre-educational adventure gave me some knowledge of Ruben Dario so I knew who he was before arriving.
We went to the market and saw these live lizards or iguanas that were tied up by mouth and legs. They sell them alive to take home to cook and eat. one of the translators said that some people buy them as pets because they eat the cockroaches.
Dyre the translator was our guide through the market and she told us about her life. She learned English from her grandmother who was from England. She went to school for medicine for three years and dropped out because she became pregnant...after 2 more kids she has decided she would like to go back and is planning to next year.
Later on we went swimming with the kids from the orphanage on the El ayudante grounds. One little boy kept trying to tell me something I couldnt understand in spanish...he went and got a kid on the trip who could speak spanish to "tell this gringo i want her to throw me and catch me in the water" i laughed so hard. THey were loving the attention we were giving them and all the kids were so precious. When we got back to the grounds we played volleyball again then met the kids in the village next door to play in the fields. They would run up to you and hug you which at first thought seems cute but i know that this is a sign of child abuse and neglect. its deattachment. but we had fun with them and gave them some love...we would run and chase each other. You completely forget that these kids have scabies and just touch them and hug them regardless.
I wish i learned spanish before coming on this trip. I am doing my best trying to learn it and feel a litle overwhelmed. The spanish lesson was hard for me. I love learning new languages but I do not possess a talent for it...it doenst come very easy for me. In fact after 3 years of french which i absolutely loved, Madame Butois told me not to continue with classes because my grammar was that terrible.!I do actually keep throwing some french words in my spanish senteces...avec being one that keeps popping in there...and es tois instead of tu.
We talked about the set up for clinic tomorrow and had group presentations on different diseases that are prevelent here. I had malaria...thank God i took that cloroquine before coming...it seems like a terrible disease. My assignment for the first clinic day is in the pharmacy with Valerie and Brent. I am happy I am there because it would be a calm first day ...and thats good for my stress seing as i am nervous to start. I volunteered to go to the OB clinic one day to do pap smears. Basically we are all going to be acting as full fledged doctors, diagnosing and writing prescriptions... the attendings all just sign off on them
During our lesson on how to present and do H&P's and assessments I felt food about the skills I have adn what I know how to do from nursing. Many of the med students arent in clincal settings yet and dont know how to do something as simple as blood pressure. laura, the PA student taught me how to use an otoscope and look at the optic disc in the eye. Ithink i saw it but im not entirely sure. We all make up for each others weaknessess ...together we are one strong force!
"a nurse and a doctor relationship is like a pitcher and a shortstop, a pitch can be perfect but a shortstop can screw it all up" - Dr. Medina on nurse and doctor relationships and the importance of communication
I am looking forward to tomorrow!
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