Panama

The thing that has struck me the most about Panama is the difference between their culture and ours in the United States. I think they are a lot more open and trusting of each other. Most of the houses don´t have air conditioning and they leave all the windows and doors open. Neighbors and friends will just walk in and out at any time. At first, this really freaked me out because I´m used to locking all my doors, even when I´m at home. Once I learned that this is the norm in their culture, I felt a lot better about it. Also, I think the general public trusts medical professionals a lot more. We´re used to being questioned about everything, and we worry about being sued for the smallest thing that someone thinks we did wrong. Here in Panama, I have noticed that they are more accepting of what nurses say and tell the patients to do. For example, not one person has turned down a vaccine for their child. They are even vaccinating children for H1N1 right now even though it´s not flu season. In fact, I am writing this from a school where we are giving vaccines today because we haven´t had much internet access to the blogs! The main problem for me has been the language barrier, because we don´t have any translators except another student Jean, who is amazing for helping us out so much on the trip! It´s hard to communicate with the families we are staying with, and also with our patients. I´m trying my best though! Sorry this is so short, but other students have to write posts now too.