week 1

Okay so I can get into nursing school but I can't figure out how to create a blog on the blog website. Anyways, The first week in Panama was amazing. Everything was so new and all we were worried about was taking pictures and enjoying the sites. The trip to Chitre was beautiful but actually getting there (two days after our initial arrival into the country) was when the culture shock began. I was embarrassed with my lack of knowledge of the spanish language and I wished I had taken the time to learn some more before I got there. I met my house mother and she was absolutely wonderful. The house we were at was pretty nice. It had no AC or hot water and bugs entering and exiting the home freely as they kept the doors open. I was amazed at how the family just ignored it and accepted that as the way they live. I know here in the states if I see a bug in my home I am running for the hair spray or anything aerosole that I can kill it with. They had internet and TV but it was in the mothers house so the use was limited. None of that really bothered me, it actually made me appreciate the way we live here. Stephanie made me be her personal exterminator before bed every night and I think I got in trouble a few nights for killing the innocent quarter sized beetles. I honestly felt bad for killing them after I realized how much it meant to the family to keep them alive. After the first night I ended up just telling Steph I got rid of them instead of killing them, but that will be our little secret until she reads this of course.
The fourth day in Panama we went to our assigned clinics. I was suprised with how crowded but organized and smoothly it appeared to run. The woman in charge was absolutely wonderful and was very concerned with us being able to get the experience we needed and wanted. We had several different options as to what we were able to do on clinic days such as paps, vaccinations, going out into the community, child development, and psych. I was very pleased overall with the experience I got there. I found it very interesting that they have a completely different way of doing things but yet everything still gets done (for the most part). They don't wear gloves very often where as in the United States we wear gloves just to put our hand on a patient's shoulder. I actually got laughed at by the Panamanian nursing students for trying to wear gloves while giving a vaccination. It just showed me that good care can be given with less supplies and less technology. I also got to witness my clinic getting oriented to using a EKG machine. They looked like they had never seen one before and we use them like there is no tomorrow. I don't think some people would know what to do without their dynamaps here. I just loved how simple everything was there and how caring everyone was. If someone missed an appointment at the clinic for vaccinations the nurses went out into the town looking for them. That would never happen here. I had a great experience learning about different ways of doing things in a country that has far less then us. We take a lot of things for granted and I want to try not to do that in the future as a nurse in the States.