Costa Rica Day 4

Today was the second day of clinic and along with feeling more comfortable with the routine came a better understanding of spanish and of the diseases. For example, I learned how to check ears for infection, and I also became pretty familiar with what medicines are used for what sort of diseases. I loved practicing my spanish, even though it did make the day more tiring. At this point I feel that my small group doesn't even need a translator because we all have a good understanding of what they are saying and are able to communicate with the patients and doctors without our translator. I loved the atmosphere in the clinic today because everyone was a lot closer and since there weren't as many patients, we could spend time talking to everyone and getting to know them better, including the doctors, the translators, and even many of the patients. Again, every day it astounds me how the people coming to the clinic can be so patient and kind. It amazes me that they don't get annoyed with the line and the wait. But as one of the translators, Mike, told us, the clinic is better than the public health care. Surprisingly, even though the health care is free here, that's only if you work legally for Costa Rica and you pay taxes. However, the majority of people living in these small, poor towns are immigrants who don't have official jobs and don't pay taxes. They are mainly from Nicaragua because over there there is a high poverty rate. They could all pay about $12 a month for private insurance, but even that isn't affordable for some families. And there is always a long wait for going to the hospital and getting an appointment. And most of the time they just end up diagnosing you acetaminophen (a simple Tylenol). Even though the health care here seems great when you think about it, it's actually not as perfect as some people perceive it to be. After the clinic we ended up going to dinner at a chinese place. At dinner we talked about all the amazing natural medicine that the doctors told the patients at the clinic to use. Like one of the doctors today told a patient to cut a water bottle in half and heat it and close one side to use as an inhaler for babies who can't use real inhalers. The doctors also suggested two drops of breast milk in the babies nose to get rid of a cold because the baby was too young to get any medicine. I appreciate this other form of medicine and really do believe it makes a difference. I think it's important as a doctor to know both methods because sometimes it is better to go about dealing with the disease with natural medicine. Another crazy fact I learned about Santi today was that his older brother died when he was 20. I feel like there is so much I don't know about Santi, but I want to keep learning more because his life is just so interesting and intense. We ended the night by playing some games and laughing late into the night...in our bus...in the hotel parking lot because we couldn't disturb the other guests. We all bonded and got closer as we laughed about silly jokes and shared our crazy childhood stories. I am really thankful to be on this trip because each and every person is unique and interesting, and I love learning something new every day. One patient that I loved seeing was Gloria, the grandma. She was just a great person and reminded me of my own grandma! She was social and really spent time getting to know us and talk to us. She was also hilarious and came back to the clinic both days to see us. I hope to have more stories of patients that I can remember as memorable because that connection with patients is what will help me grow as a person who wants to work with people for the rest of their life. What a day. :)
Quote of the day: “Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard