1.27.2010

CONIN

There is a Foundation in Argentina called CONIN (Cooperation for Childhood Nutrition). This foundation helps mothers of children between the ages of 0-3 become educated on how to nourish their children properly. I've been really interested in volunteering with this foundation because I think it's important to see all walks of life, and poverty I haven't really gotten to see face to face.

Yesterday, I went with 3 other women Volunteers to a home visit, where 2 mothers were seeking help from CONIN. When we arrived at their home, the 2 mothers were all smiles. Very excited to get some help with how to nourish their children properly. Both young ladies stated that they were very eager to learn how to cook for her children. The 2 women were friends.
  • One of the young ladies had 2 children, one with Down's Syndrome... we learned the father moved to another city refusing to help any longer.
  • The other young lady had 1 child, with a working father.
The first thing our leader Volunteer asked was, "Do you have light inside?" Can you imagine? Something we take so much for granted. Luckily, the government helps a little, and makes sure that there is electricity in the poor parts of the country... Thus, they had light. They also had a water faucet outside, also built by the government. We then entered their plywood home to address the living. The young lady with the 2 children's mother lived on the left side of the house, and there was a hallway to separate the two sides. In the hallway, there was a crib... because it was cooler there during the day (the hallway was open on both sides to let air through). Because there was no indoor plumbing, the was just a hole for their restroom. Their kitchen didn't have much, just a little plywood counter/table, with a little place to start a fire to cook something. No refrigerator, no stove, no running water... Nothing like that. Their home was really dusty, and didn't have windows.

Next we asked to see the other young lady's quarters. She lived in the back. There was no grass... just a dirt path. We saw that her bedroom was a little room, just for her bed, and her kitchen was another room with a big wooden cable wheel. No bathroom... nothing else.

These women didn't have much at all. I remember looking at their shoes and thinking that their shoes must be the most valuable thing they have besides their beautiful children. The baby with Down's was often ignored I noticed. Maybe it was the distraction of us being there. That was the part that made me sad... At one point, one of the Volunteers began to tear up because the little girl with Down's was left in the house while we were all outside.

Now that the Volunteers know what they have for means of living, they can educate them how to cook with what they have. The 2 young ladies will go to classes put on by the Volunteers of CONIN as much as they want. Volunteers will continue to make house visits to be sure they are making progress...

All in all, it was quite an experience... I wish I could help more, but I'm now going on vacations to Brazil, then moving to Chile. I'm definitely going to try to help with some organization like this in the future. I'll keep you updated...

Oh, and by the way, I took pictures of the lab today, here they are!!



1.21.2010

The Dogs...



Today, Rodrigo and I decided Jake (the one below), needed to have a bath... and naturally... I decided I needed to share his handsomeness with the whole world. So here he is, Jake, Mr. Gorgeous... at his cleanest moment! By the way, I bet you're wondering why Jake is named Jake... Rodrigo's family happens to love the TV series "Two and a half Men." Jake is the boy on that show.

The other dog is Dark, can you see why he's named that? Dark is old, handsome, and sometimes crabby... but I think he likes me!

1.13.2010

What I've Discovered in the Hospital...

I must say that I absolutely love the people I work with in the hospital!! They are so much fun and have made me feel so welcome even though I still have a lot of problems with the language. The first day I was there, my amazing new coworker Maria paraded me around the hospital introducing me to everyone, just to make me feel welcome! The MT's, blood bank specialists, RN's, cooks, cleaners, admin, even doctors and police have all stopped to listen to Maria while she introduces me as the Yankee MT that is going to find her a sugar daddy in the States. It's marvelous! My first day I was so nervous, for the first second because I didn't know Spanish, but Maria slowed everything down, and made me feel like I knew Spanish just as well as her... What a patient lady, I think she's going to go right to heaven for this... sugar daddy or not!

So there are some major differences between a public hospital laboratory in a poor provence of Argentina and any type of hospital laboratory or clinic laboratory in the states.
  • When you step in the lab, you don't see large instruments. Instead, it kinda looks like a an older Chem lab.
  • They aren't wasteful at all. They reuse their pipette tips, test tubes, slides, everything except syringes and needles.
  • Therefore, there is no need for a biohazard bag because everything is washed and reused. The tip of the needles are melted then thrown in the trash.
  • When a person with TB comes in, there isn't a special room for them with the air circulating out of the room... This is because most everyone has the TB vaccine, especially people that work at the hospital. Yes, I've decided I should ask a doc about this, because I don't have the vaccine (neither do you I'm sure because it's virtually impossible to get in the states).
  • Gloves are available but uncommonly used (they always save the gloves and use them as tourniquets), and on occasion mouth pipetting is practiced
  • You have to add your own anticoagulant to the tubes, so after you're done drawing, you have to hurry back to the lab to put the syringe draw in some tubes with the proper dilution of anticoagulant.
  • There is no hematology instrument, they do a hematocrit (always), hemoglobin (sometimes), WBC estimate (always), and manual differential (if ordered)
  • Manual differentials are done with a pencil and paper. There isn't any type of fancy button pusher here. You just tally up 100 cells with a pen and paper.
  • They use a spectrophotometer machine to do their glucose, ggt, hemoglobin, urea, and cholesterol testing
  • They run ESRs, wash the tubes and reuse them
  • Lancets are not used, instead, a needle is used for a heel poke.
  • There isn't a computer in the laboratory. Everything is done with pencil and paper.
My view of the laboratory is just that they aren't as advanced because of lack of funding. It is exactly like a laboratory used to be like in the states, but they don't have the funding to move forward and get newer instruments.
Now, I'm only talking about a public hospital (it's free), in a poor provence in Argentina. I've been in private laboratories in this provence, and it's just like the states. Really good instruments and tools are available if you have money. In Cordoba there is a very large Clinic (clinics are private here, hospitals are public) that has a lot of the same instruments I worked with at Mayo. Bottom line, amazing healthcare is available if you can afford health insurance, which here is $50 a month, and everything is covered. Plus, there's no gimmicks (oh, we won't cover that because you have a "pre-existing condition") they cover it all...

I really am enjoying my experience. It's really eye-opening to work with the poor and see interesting things in the laboratory. Today, there was a sputum with TB in it... and some stool with cysts of Giardia! Life is great!! I really wish I would have brought my parasitology book, I can actually use it here!

1.11.2010

The Hospital

Today I went to the hospital... to see if I could hang out in the Lab in the mornings. Luckily, they said yes! So, I'm in... I get to do something important! Am I going to get paid? HA! Don't you think that in order to get paid you should know the language :) So that's a big "NO" but maybe someday.
I'm ecstatic... I've waited 22 days to feel like I can contribute to the country, and I'm so relieved it's here!

I must also tell you about the night life. It's A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! I didn't ever think that I could stay out all night until 7am, but evidently I can. We leave to hang out with friends at about 5, until about 9 or 10, come home... eat... then leave for the night at about 12. We stay out with these flabbergasting, amazingly cool South Americans until we just can't function anymore... then go home. Usually Rodrigo's dad is awake by the time we make it to the house. We maul the kitchen for delicious eggs with a little ham and eggs (that my boyfriend cooked!!!!), and head for bed.
I guess since now I'm very important... I'm not going to be doing that any longer!

1.08.2010

8th day of January, 2010

I've been in Argentina now for 19 days, and I'm loving it. There are a couple of things I've noticed:
  • Cordoba, Argentina... has the biggest Christmas tree I've ever seen.
  • Summer here is HOT, never below 80 and usually 50% or more humidity.
  • The Aconcagua is the tallest mountain I've ever seen.
  • Mendoza, Argentina... has a lot of nice wineries, and a good but expensive mechanic.
  • Traveling from Rodrigo's hometown to Concepcion, Chile takes 32 hours one way by car.
  • Rodrigo's got a great family
  • Virasoro, Argentina... everyone either wears flip flops or alpargatas, the people are the most fun in the world, and they have the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen.