Nos reuniremos de nuevo Panama......



Flying home..... Bittersweet

The final post. We are finally back home in the USA!!! It felt to nice to come home yesterday. But driving down familiar streets, that didn't look so familiar anymore was a strange feeling. Pulling up to my house and not really processing that I am home b/c home was somewhere else for the last 3 weeks was emotional... But seeing family, friends, and my boyfriend embrace me really cemented that I was finally home. Going into this trip I didn't think I would make it. The first week was pretty rocky for me. New environment, a bunch of people I don't know, unorganized chaos at times, lack of communication back home, no AC lol.... seriously though, that was the cherry on top. I thought I was gonna be one of those girls that throws the towel in early & heads back home on an airplane mid trip. But as the weeks went on the more we were involved in our communities, the more we saw of Panama, the more I learned about myself, the more I got to know everyone else, the more I didn't want to leave.... The last 2 weeks flew by and it was so sad to see it go at the end of it all. The mountains, Beunos Aires, Dr. Eric, Dr. Vlatamir, Adelina, the patients, the dogs, the chickens, San Felix and all it's glory, all us girls crammed in our little dorm, the long bus rides filled with naps and conversation, the delicious fried bread dipped in the as delicious coffee, my attempts and fails at speaking & understanding Spanish, the freezing cold showers, the bugs it will forever be in my heart. As I travel through life and my career, I'll reflect back on this trip to remember that fire inside of me that brought me to Panama in the first place. I am so grateful to have experienced all that I have experienced on this trip and I hope one day I can go back to Panama…

I will miss this so much

For my last post I wanted to focus on the health care in the hospital because my other post focused more on our community clinic experience. My first impression of the hospital was that it was super nice. I was surprised at how much it looked like a hospital back home. After seeing the clinic in Beunos Aires, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the hospital. I also noticed the types of patients at the hospital were much different than those at the clinic. These folks were nicely dressed (to a certain extent), appeared cleaner, healthier, and spoke as if they were more educated. They were also more outgoing, friendlier, and they seemed like they had more energy. The pregnant women we saw seemed much more excited about their pregnancies and smiled a lot more than those at the clinic.

My amazing group that I shared the hospital experience with

So our first day in the hospital, we got to experience the birth of a little girl. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life thus far. I was trying to think back to a time on the trip that I felt this excited or this happy and I think this time tops it all. I knew I always wanted to go in to midwifery or OBGYN…. but when I felt the emotions I did when seeing the whole birthing process, it really confirmed the idea. It was neat to see the UNACHI students do all the work. The doctor only peeked his head in once during it all & continued on his way…as one nursing student handled the rest. I guess as a nursing student you have to help with 17 pregnancies to graduate! I was like sign me up lol. I am unsure of the number of births we have to do back home. It was interesting to see the mother interaction with her babygirl. She wanted nothing to do with her. She didn’t want to hold her, touch her, or even as much as look at her… I don’t know the story behind her pregnancy, but I do know this was her 3^rd child and she was only 23 years old. If she didn’t want the child, you would think after 3 times you would know how to prevent it...

It was also interesting to see the nurses & how they interacted with the mother. From what I could see there was no comfort or reassurance offered during the whole event. Right after the baby was born & the nurse clamped the umbilical cord and took the little baby to the heat lamp- everyone abandoned the mom. There was no baby - mommy bonding time. I know here in the States doctors make it a point to have the baby lay on the mother’s chest to create an in sync breathing pattern between the two of them. And I know the mom at least gets to hold her baby soon after the birth (as long as there are no problems). But this mother did not have the opportunity to hold her baby until 30-45 minutes afterwards. And this is after the baby got sent around the room to take pictures with everybody….. I would be livid if I was lying there watching everyone else embrace my baby before I even got the chance. But the health care professionals there didn’t think anything of it from what I saw. I was surprised at how much they were concerned with sterile technique, the scrubbed in like a surgeon would, had the other nurse place their gloves on for them, everything was opened with sterile technique in mind. Back at the Buenos Aires clinic it would be a shocker to see our doctor wear gloves. During stitches, blood drawls, IVs…no gloves. So it was nice to see the proper precautions taken in the hospital at least. But we also saw quite a few women come in for infection post C-section so it makes you wonder…


dont shoot me lauren ;-) this picture just truly captures
the silliness we shared on the trip!

One of the many parties our friends at UNACHI threw for us....

Our next visit to the hospital my group & I were in gynecology for the entire shift. There was a lot of blood pressure checks, temperature checks, RR checks, pulse checks... definitely not as exciting as seeing a baby being born, but we made it through. The UNACHI students were great to work with. They were so patient, welcoming, kind, and full of so much energy. I lost track of the number of parties they threw of and I completely lost track of how many different times we said goodbye to them lol. We had our final party, said all our goodbyes, went back to the floor, ran into them, worked with them for an hour or so, and said all our goodbyes all over again. I will certainly miss them, along with the nurses and doctors in Panama. The time they take to teach you, the passion they have, and their kind spirits really made this experience that much more awesome. Kind of wish some of the nurses/preceptors here in the USA would go to Panama to learn a thing or two ;-)



I suppose I will add a few pictures to wrap this post up :-) I am so thankful to everyone on this trip who made these last 3 weeks worthwhile! Too bad second degree & upper division are going our owns ways now :-/ We should all do a reunion trip in Panama a few years from now when everyone is actually working & have their own nursing licenses (hmmm, maybe that is not a good idea lol). Well for now this is goodbye! Adios Panama! ;-)

Last night of the trip

SO many memories....



CHOW ;-)

 -Brittany Brewer