Hola todos.

Today was my first day of hospital work. For the next two weeks I am actually working in a small clinic called a Centro de Salud where I am one on one with a doctor. I get to be in the examening as he sees all his patients. The doctor goes out of his way to explain things to me and to involve me. For example today he had me check the heart rate of all his patients and he let me do some physical examining. For example one patient complained of stomach pain and the doctor had me check for tenderness in the abdominal area. The clinic where I am working at is a public clinic that is paid for by the government. Families that are relatively poor can qualify for what is called Seguro Popular which is a government program that pays for basic healthcare. They must recieve their healthcare at Centros de Salud, public hospitals and certain specialists. The Centro de Salud is a general consulting clinic and is the primary stop for patients in non emergency situations. If the doctor at the Centro feels the patient needs an x ray, surgery or needs to see some other type of specialist he will refer them to the public hospìtal. All of this is paid for by the government.

Many of the patients we saw today had diabetes and high blood pressure. These are common problems in Mexico because the population suffers from a lack of excersise and consumes diets high is sodium and sugar. Mexico is the number one consumer of soda in the world. The doctor explained to me that because of the high poverty levels families often cannot find time to exercise or come up with the money to join a gym. It is also hard for some families to afford healthy food. It is a complicated issue. The Centro has a pharmacy and the doctor often perscribed various drug to help control blood sugar levels and blood pressure.

Tomorrow is my second day with the doctor and I hope to have new and exciting information to write about next time!

Nos vemos
Max