First Day en la Clínica¡¡

Just got back from my first day at the clinic.  Helen and I took a regular taxi there this morning, got there sort of early, and then sat around kind of awkwardly and waited for the doctor to arrive.  The clinic is REALLY small. When you walk in you're standing in the waiting room (which is not much bigger than my bedroom at home) and on the wall farthest from the door are two desks, one for the nurse who takes all the vitals before the patient goes in to see the doctor and one for getting vaccinations. There are two rooms for the doctors to see their patients and a small practically closet of a room that they use as a pharmacy.  (There was also a small room for dental work and one for overnight observation but it doesn't seem that they use either of those rooms very much at all.) Only one doctor, one nurse, one nurse trained in giving injections, a receptionist, and a custodial worker work at any one time. The clinic is open 24 hours and I believe it's completely free to the public with or without health insurance.

It was a little funny when Helen and I walked in. Since we were wearing white coats, everyone assumed we were doctors. The 2 nurses were surprised that though we were premed, we weren't actually all that proficient at taking vitals and we didn't know how to administer vaccinations. I could totally see the what-the-hell-are-they-teaching-these-kids-in-the-US-thought cross their minds. Haha. Anyways, the first day went pretty well. The nurse that does the injections actually started teaching us about them and I think she's eventually going to let us do some (which would be so so cool)! Also, she told us to make a list of everything we want to learn while we're interning there so that she and the others can teach us. I'm super stoked! Nothing particularly exciting happened while we were there, though there was a mother who brought her baby in for shots and when she unwrapped the blankets, you could see that the baby was wearing a makeshift diaper made of dirty rags and a plastic bag, all somewhat haphazardly tied together. That sort of broke my heart to see. And there was another girl that came in with a baby that honestly could not have been more than 16.

When we finished for the day, we asked the nurses about the best way to get back home.  One of the patients was nice enough to drive us to the main road and help us catch a taxi colectivo (which ended up  not being so bad--kind of a cross between a taxi and a bus). We walked through a park on our way home and since I was dying of hunger, I decided to buy a coconut popsicle at this stand we passed. It was SO good, better than any coconut popsicle I've ever had in my life! I'm sure it's made with tap water and semi unsafe to be eating but I think I'll take the risk. We're going back tomorrow. ;)