It isn't just the landscape, climate, food and scenery that change from the central mountains to the northeast coast - the new region brings a different demographic and healthcare system.
I had the chance to spend some time in a public hospital twenty minutes outside of the rural community on the hill I live in, where the only other healthcare facilities are two private clinics. It has an open-air architecture, with some general consultation offerings, a pharmacy, laboratory and emergency room. They have one doctor on duty, or at least on call, and between one to five nurses on duty at a time, serving the entire hospital (both emergencies and the twenty-five inpatient capacity). They related that it is sometimes very challenging for them, short staffed, to manage the entire patient body in the hospital, especially when emergencies present.
If you have an emergency here, especially trauma-related, you can expect to be stabilized and/or immobilized as best as the doctor and nurses are able to do with the little to no equipment and supplies they have available to them and then quickly referred to the trauma center or regional hospital 25-45 minutes away (on a speeding ambulance). There, those hospitals handle all further referrals for patients that need it.
What sets this system apart from many others in the country, from what I was told, is the mandatory education program for mothers that includes everything from the course of pregnancy to birthing to infant care. Furthermore, the public hospital offers a free vaccination program to ensure children are updated on all of their routine vaccines.
What resonates here as it did in Jarabacoa is the passion of the doctors and nurses here. They are in the field of medicine because they truly love seeing their care improve their patient's health. It inspires me to find my niche where I feel I am truly helping others.
I had the chance to spend some time in a public hospital twenty minutes outside of the rural community on the hill I live in, where the only other healthcare facilities are two private clinics. It has an open-air architecture, with some general consultation offerings, a pharmacy, laboratory and emergency room. They have one doctor on duty, or at least on call, and between one to five nurses on duty at a time, serving the entire hospital (both emergencies and the twenty-five inpatient capacity). They related that it is sometimes very challenging for them, short staffed, to manage the entire patient body in the hospital, especially when emergencies present.
If you have an emergency here, especially trauma-related, you can expect to be stabilized and/or immobilized as best as the doctor and nurses are able to do with the little to no equipment and supplies they have available to them and then quickly referred to the trauma center or regional hospital 25-45 minutes away (on a speeding ambulance). There, those hospitals handle all further referrals for patients that need it.
What sets this system apart from many others in the country, from what I was told, is the mandatory education program for mothers that includes everything from the course of pregnancy to birthing to infant care. Furthermore, the public hospital offers a free vaccination program to ensure children are updated on all of their routine vaccines.
What resonates here as it did in Jarabacoa is the passion of the doctors and nurses here. They are in the field of medicine because they truly love seeing their care improve their patient's health. It inspires me to find my niche where I feel I am truly helping others.