The 12th day here was very long. We had the opportunity to split into two groups and each group went to a different public hospital. I was in the Fernandez hospital group and we were there for roughly three hours touring and learning about their hospital. I learned some interesting new things such as them not having enough anesthesiologists to operate as much as needed. This contributes to long waiting in hospitals when people need surgeries because they cannot be operated on without these anesthesiologists. We also learned that physicians often leave around 2 or 3 to then go to the private hospitals and also work there, and at this point the residents take over who have far less training than the physicians. At the end of the visit the hospital director came and spoke with us which I thought was really nice of him to take time out of his schedule to come meet with our group.
I’ve realized that one thing I both really like and really don’t like about Argentina is how long some of the meals are. Although the food was great, the restaurant that we went to took a very long time which was not good since I felt ill. After our meal we walked to the botanical gardens which were nearby and a lot of us were very tired from the long day, so we settled down on some benches and took a nap during our two hour wait between the restaurant and museum visit.
Once we left the gardens, we walked back over to the Evita Museum. Personally this was the best museum we’ve been to in my opinion. During our cultural lecture earlier in the week I learned a little but about Eva Peron, but the museum went more in depth about her story which I found very cool. I’m not too clear on what her direct connection is to healthcare. However, if you include foster care as apart of healthcare I think that is one thing that she helped. By providing aa shelter to children and women she probably helped prevent domestic violence and homelessness which is something that is a part of a huge movement going on in Argentina currently. Our tour guide for La Boca was telling us how there are two large women led movements going on right now: sexual assault and domestic violence. Evita helped prevent both of these which could be seen in the museum. Her and her husband also helped women gain voting power which ties back to healthcare as well. If women don’t have the power to vote, they don’t get a say in laws about healthcare. Evita also started a nursing program which was a huge contribution to healthcare.