7.2.2010

I haven't had time this weekend to journal/blog very much. Hopefully I can remember all the details of each day. 7.2.2010 was our hospital day. We got to "sleep in"... which meant waking up at 7 instead of 6:30. Haha. Everyone's really good about being up and on time - aside from our faculty. They are always the last ones on the bus.
We loaded onto the bus and head down the street to the clinic of San Felix. We stood outside for quite some time waiting for our nurse to take us to tour the hospital. Apparently she wasn't working that day - so we had to about a mile up the road to the hospital and find someone to give us a tour on our own.
Fred was our tour guide. He was very involved with the nurses association here in the Comarca, as well as the board of nurses at his hospital. He welcomed us graciously, and showed us around.
The first thing I saw when we arrived to the hospital was a stray dog walking through the doors. He just walked right inside. It baffled me. You walk in and it's sort of like a courtyard with some chairs and doors on the perimeter that are designated for different things. There were only a few rooms that had AC. Those rooms were the nutritionists office, the lab, the X-ray room, and the pharmacy.
Right next to the hospital is the "outpatient clinic" of sorts. There were two nurses and one doctor. The doctor used his best English (which didn't make much sense) to try and welcome us. There were probably 30 people standing around waiting to be seen. I saw one baby with a horrible case of chicken pox. The children seem to really be plagued with skin conditions, a lot of impetigo and leichmaniasis. Look 'em up - they're awful and gross!
We walked through the ER next. I didn't really like taking tours of the different wings. There is no patient privacy, and I felt like we were exploiting the patients. When we walked through the ER we just walked right through the main part and saw all the patients and the Dr.s told us what they were in for. There was one couple hooked up to IVs (the wife was pregnant), and they were being treated with antivenom. There was a snake in a bag on the bed next to them. Ew. In the ER there was a room called the "telecommunication room." It was sponsered by The University of Arizona. It had a laptop (one of the only computers in the hospital that you could review Xrays on) and two video phones. They said it was used mostly for when they were receiving patients from clinics so they could get information about the injuries, etc. I though it was very cool. The ER doc was pretty cute... about 30. :)
They we went to the exam rooms, which were in the main courtyard I told you about. They had a room for gyn, peds, OB, etc. We met the pediatrician - he was sooo nice! I wish Dr.s in the states were as nice as the doctors here. They have all been awesome!
Next we went up to the Pediatric unit. There was a nurses station outside two rooms that were back to back. There were no doors - and the openings were wide enough for us to see all the patients inside. They had an "ICU" on one side... I definitely wouldn't want my baby to be sick here. There were no heart monitors. There were no respirators. There were simply IVs. They only called it the ICU because the children were in more critical condition. There was one nurse and one tech for the entire Peds portion. There were nearly 14 patients. An average patient load in the states is 4-6 for a nurse plus a tech. In the peds ICU in the states a nurse would have 1-2 patients. So sad.
Then we walked down to the internal medicine section, it was connected to OB room. There were only a few patients in these rooms. Again, one tech and one nurse. There was a lady who just delivered a baby last night - Fred walked us right inside the room and showed us the woman and the baby. How many of you would want 20 strangers walking into your room to look at you and your baby the day after you had it - and they spoke a different language. It was sad. I didn't go in.
We were shown the cafeteria - the food smelled so good! Then came the lab, the sterilization room, the labor and delivery rooms, Xray room, and the orthapedic room. There were a lot of new looking pieces of equipment in the physical therapy room. It had been donated by a group in the US called project CURE. It was the only state-of-the-art things we saw. These doctors and nurses are using technology and equipement we haven't used in 30 years. It's crazy and incredibly humbling.
There was a woman delivery and some people got to go back and watch, but I didn't go. Again, I felt like we were exploiting patients. The only thing I saw in the hospital that I actually approved of/liked was the pharmacy. There was an actual pharmacists there and it seemed to be very organized.
We walked back to the compound - which was about 2 miles at 11am. So hot. We were drenched by the time we made it back. The humidity is just crazy. Once we got back we ate, and packed our stuff to head to Boqete for the weekend. We weren't supposed to leave until Saturday, but we begged our teachers - and they worked it out! Yay!
The drive was about 2.5 hours. We had to drive over to David and then up to Boqete. When we were driving in I kept thinking of Gatlinburg. It was a small-ish town in the mountains with all kinds of shops and resturants and old buildings. It wasn't as rich of an area obviously, but it looked kinda like it. We drove to our hostal (Villa Verde Hostal) and unloaded our suitcases... these girls pack soooo much every they go. But I guess it's a good thing; if anyone needs anything someone is sure to have it. Especially meds, we're nursing students after all. :)
The couple that ran the hostal was extremely nice and they spoke English, which is always a plus in Panama. Haha. There were only 2 other guests staying in the hostal. We rented out all the other rooms. Katie and I got our own room... most people were rooming with 2 or three. It was almost like a bed and breakfast - not a hostal. We walked in to an awesome room with a tv, two fulls beds (one for each!!!) and two walls full of windows with a view of the mountains. It was gorgeous.
After we unpacked we all loaded up to go get dinner. Before we went to the pizza place (everyone wanted pizza and beer!), we stopped at the market to meet our tour guide for our volcano hike. Ten of us (Josh, Robert, Eli, Addie, Sarah, Katie, Lexi, Kira, Ms. Metzger, and myself) were planning to hike Volcan Baru starting at midnight to make it to the top in time for the sunrise. We pulled up to the market and got out of the bus to try and find Mario (our tour guide). It was pouring. Several us went inside and bought these little $1 raincoat/ponchos. They were made for kids, so the sleeves were a little short, but they totally worked! We've all become very resourceful and have no shame! Haha.
Mario was a very nice young guy, who spoke broken english. He explained to us that it was a very bad night for hiking Baru because of the rain. He also mentioned that it was 25 or so degrees at the top. I decided I wasn't going at that point - and almost all the others agreed. We were already putting together makeshift outfits just to hike. We were definitely not prepared for the kind of cold. Plans changed a little. We decided to leave at 5am and hike up as the sun was rising. I still wasn't sold on the idea. It sounded bad from the beginning.
When we were done we drove down to the pizza parlor. It was so cute. There was a man playing the keyboard inside... and it smelled fantastic! Katie and I ordered a chicken and spinach pizza. It was delicious! Wow. I have a picture of it I'll upload later. By the time we were finished and had paid it was after 10. The hikers (besides Eli) walked back to the condo to get to bed for our hike. The other girls (and Eli, because he's such a protector) went out drinking/clubbing. All I cared was that they didn't wake me up when they came back really late.
I journaled when I got back to the hostal.
"I'm going to climb a volcano at 5am... in the cold... in the rain. I may die. To be continued..."