Today.

By Lisa Monetti 

     Today we visited a public hospital and it was so completely different from any hospital in the US. When we travelled through the halls for our short tour, we were able to look right into the rooms and see all the patients. Each room held around seven patients and we learned that the hospital turns away no one, so sometimes they are forced to share beds. Walking through the hospital I felt more like I was intruding into someone’s home rather than taking a tour of a hospital. Our hospitals at home are a bright white, overly clean, and all the patients get privacy. Here, the building was dark and you could tell they just weren’t able to keep up with all the patients and also keep the hospital completely sanitized. 

     This was an experience completely different than anything I had experienced and I felt bad for the patients for not getting the care and amenities that patients in America receive. However, I also knew that they were really lucky to be there because there are few hospitals and it isn’t always easy to get to them. But this one did the best it could to help the people of Nicaragua. They offer a guesthouse for visitors to stay as long as they like and that, as well as all the medical services, are completely free to the patients. 

     This was an emotional day for all of us, as you’ll read in the other blog posts, but we’re all having a terrific time. We’re gaining so much from this trip and I think these first hand experiences triumph over any lecture in a class when it comes to getting across the information and we’re really able to understand the way the people here feel and live.