A visit to the hospital (Teresa)

Don't be shocked or overly concerned by the title of this post!  "Going to the hospital" here is the equivalent of "going to the doctor's office" for us.  And we'd been receiving encouragement to go to the hospital ever since we began to cough two weeks ago.  We explained, over and over, that at home we don't go to the hospital until we're nearly dead, in the case if an emergency, or for surgery.  Meanwhile various member of our host family were going to the hospital for everything from diabetes care, to morning sickness, to a slight fever.

So, yesterday afternoon when Yolanda "caught" me having a major coughing attack, she said it's time to go.  And Kent, who has recovered well from his cough, agreed that we three females need to get checked out.  We gathered our passports and headed out to see the newly opened hospital (replacing the old one).  Did we need to take money or insurance papers?  Nope, it's all free!

We arrived by car through the main gate, passing the two guards in empty parking lot, at the ER entrance.  There sat a beautiful new ambulance, with driver in place, ready to take off toward an emergency.  But, everything was quiet.  Before going inside, Yolanda explained to me that I needed to exaggerate my symptoms so that they would see me at the ER.  (If they sent us to the main entrance we would wait longer.)  I didn't mind pushing my way in, since no one else was waiting for care!  No emergencies in sight, and several young doctors and nurses in clean uniforms were milling about with nothing to do.  We were taken into a triage room where they took vitals, and asked several questions about our overall health status and current syptoms.  They were befuddled by why we had waited two weeks before coming to the hospital.

The diagnosis?  Our lungs are clear, no infections, but we seem to have an allergic reaction to something here.  So we proceeded to another part of the hospital, to the pharmacy, to receive an antihistamine.  (Leaving the ER we passed the ambulance again, driver still ready.)  We were also prescribed another med, a combination pain reliever (for throat and head aches) and decongestant.  And, we should be gargling with baking soda.  On the way home we stopped at another pharmacy for these items--baking soda is sold at the pharmacy rather than the grocery store--for a total of $18.

It was very interesting to experience the local, new hospital, and the young female doctors.  (We only saw females....I imagine they also train males!)  The construction of this larger hospital, with the promise of modern equipment and specialty care, has created a fair amount of excitement here.  Until now, folks have had to travel to the mainland (Quito or Guayaquil) for specialty care and surgeries.  And, for us as foreigners, it was exciting to read the "patient rights" posted throughout the building which declared that each person has the right to free, quality healthcare, regardless of gender, age, race, nationality, disabilities, sexual orientation, or socio-economic level.