Day 5:Casa Esperanza y Policlinic

Posted by Rachel Orlowski

Wow. Today seemed like the longest day EVER. Casa Esperanza was amazing today! The kids were much more receptive today (at least it seemed to me).The dental presentation went really well. We taught them how to brush their teeth and told them if they didn't brush that nobody would want to kiss them! Ha! Linda was chasing the boys around with fake Billy Bob teeth and trying to kiss them. They would cover their faces and run away. It was really funny! We gave the presentation and taught them words dealing with dentistry in English. Robin said that later they asked what more words were in English. Michael played Spiderman and moved the barbed wire that was hanging down into the play area to a safer place on the roof. Then we took the kids to the super awesome park! They clung to me and were calling my name like crazy. We played tag and the kids were trying to tag Michael and I. I was running out of breath. I'm not in shape for all that running! I felt like today I really bonded with the kids much more than yesterday. I played games with Lily yesterday and today she stuck to me like glue. I am going to have seperation anxiety when I leave those kids tomorrow. It breaks my heart knowing that I will most likely never see them again. The whole experience has been quite a ride considering the language barrier. I can't even really joke with the children as I would normally due to my limited vocabulary. It's tough, but I am dealing with it and learning along the way.
After Casa Esperanza, we took a tour of a policlinic, which is part of the Ministry of Health. The building was interesting. The hallways were open and you could see outside. It was not enclosed, but the individual offices had air conditioning. It was different than anything I have ever experienced, especially a medical facility. This clinic was a second level so it had a lot of specialty areas. There was physical therapy, public health, mental health, general medicine, internal medicine, gyneocology, etc etc etc. One thing that struck me was that the physical therapy was done on the 3rd floor and they have no elevators!!! Our tour was very detailed and much less rushed compared to yesterday's children's hospital visit. The medicine at the clinic is VERY cheap as well as the cost of visits, which maxes out at $2. The pharmacist said that a medicine that costs $0.05 in the clinic costs $80 in the US. That is crazy!! What a drastic difference! The clinic was not busy at all except for the 1st floor. They said that it's never very busy in December because everyone is too busy with Christmas and what not to go to the doctor. Heffy said it best today during reflection that this trend reflects their culture. This slow business would not be the same in America.
It is definitely a different world in Panama compared to Florida, but I am enjoying learning about it. I feel myself adapting. I say basic words in eSpanish (like si y gracias y permiso) without even thinking or realizing it. It has become more natural to me. Maybe I am a Panamanian at heart. OK maybe not but I am on my way :)