This past week was much
more low-key than previous ones, however it was just what I needed. Last
Wednesday I spent the day in the trauma ward which was really exciting, since
that’s where all of the emergency patients go. We met some great doctors and were
able to shadow the patients from the moment they stepped into the waiting room
to the moment that they were discharged from the hospital. One thing that I
have noticed at Melomed is that a lot of the patients are state workers, and
they receive very nice benefits for health insurance. Melomed is an extremely
nice chain of hospitals, and all patients must have some type of health
insurance in order to get service there. Since state workers get this insurance
subsidized, they are able to come in for much smaller things than most people
would head to the emergency room for (headaches etc.) The healthcare system in
this country is really nice because patients are able to come in more
preventatively than in the US, for example, coming in at the first sign of a symptom
rather than when a case has already fully developed.
Yesterday we got to
spend the day in the ICU, which was pretty cool because Melomed’s ICU has 27
beds in it (this is a pretty large number for an ICU, because they do not split
it up between cardiac, respiratory etc.) The day was going pretty slow, as the
patients there spend most of their days sleeping and eating. Right at the end
of the day though, I got pulled to a patient’s bedside as a doctor needed help catheterizing
the jugular vein and the radial artery. It was an awesome experience because I
got to help out during the surgery, and the doctor was really enthusiastic
about answering and explaining all of the questions I had. It’s unbelievable
how different the experience I am having in a hospital here is from that I
would be able to receive in the US.
This weekend half of
the people in the house went away on the homestay in Ocean View, so it was
pretty quiet. We went to First Thursday after class, which is when the art
galleries and certain shops near Long Street and Breeze Street stay open late,
and everyone can mill about amongst them. It was a really nice evening, and I
wish that we had gone to it earlier, since it only goes on until 9pm. I hadn’t
yet been to Breeze, and it reminded me so much of the “trendier” parts of
Manhattan, which made me a little homesick for the city. I definitely hope to
go back next month. On Friday I began my activist project at SARDA (South
African Riding for the Disabled Association). I was a little upset because that
day we only did training, and I won’t be able to go back to do actual
volunteering for about a month.
Saturday we went on a
really long hike up the Newlands Ravine, which was a little unexpected. We had
originally planned on going to the Woodstock caves, but ended up taking a wrong
turn somewhere along the way and spent an extra four hours on the mountain. It
sounds like torture, but once we got up to the top it was totally worth it.
Later that night we all had burgers and chips with guacamole, which was amazing
(s/o to Drew and Josh for the cooking!).
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| Collette & Meg |
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