Day TWO

Hi friends! Okay, I am going to attempt to write a more coherent entry tonight.

Today was our first day meeting UPOLI students, faculty and we met our community families. We will be working with them for the next 2 weeks. We had the opportunity to tour the “Centro de Salud de la Villa Libertad” (Community health center). This was an amazing facility. It consists of primary care completely funded by the government. Wait, repeat? It is FREE (unless the patient needs to be referred to a specialist). Unfortunately the average waiting time in the “Sala de esperanza” (waiting room) can clock up to 2 hours, but the patients have the ability to receive primary care, including psychiatric care and physical therapy, free of charge. There are 62 “barrios” (neighborhoods) surrounding this community health center. The center operates in 3 teams consisting of 2 medical doctors and one. This team is responsible for 6 barrios!.

Later we toured the Policlinica – a secondary health facility of the “Centro de Salud.” This consisted of specialists – dentists, radiologists, etc. The MOST interesting part about this place is that it’s construction was entirely funded by the Iranian government. The clinic opened just this past February and you could still smell the fresh paint on the walls (which were decorated in Iranian colors – red, white, green). The equipment was high-tech and very impressive!

We met our families today! Two Duke students will be paired with one UPOLI nursing student for the duration of our trip. We will be working with the family to assess their health care needs and help implement changes to address those needs.

My take-aways of the day:

1. COMMUNICATION BARRIER: Whoa, hello dialect! Although I took a phonetics course at UNC which helped me to recognize certain dialects, this one can be difficult. For those Spanish nerds out there, in Nicaragua, when “s” comes at the end of the word or syllable, it is sometimes pronounced as “h.”

For example: “Our beds. “

Spanish: “Nuestras camas.”

In Nicaragua: “Nuehtrah camah.”

So, maybe that doesn’t sound bad, but when hearing it at a rapid speed, and a low tone, it can get confusing.

This makes it difficult because when meeting my family today, I wanted to form an instant connection! Because I speak spanish and have studied it for so long, I hoped to better communicate with the family to get to know them. Hopefully, over the next few days, the communication issue will mejorar (get better).

2. I was blown away by UPOLI and the health centers today. The staff and faculty are friendly and accommodating. The UPOLI campus is beautiful. It’s a private school in the heart of Managua. The school is filled with open courtyards blooming with vibrant flowers and luscious fruits. The students took us on a tour and spent time explaining their school and daily routine. They made the day a lot more meaningful to us.

The healthcare system and the people that make it happen are more real to us now, and we look forward to knowing more about them.

--Sarah