Hi again!! Today, on day 5 in Argentina, I had a great hotel breakfast in which I had cereal and medialunas, which are similar to and way better than croissants in the United States! I have eaten way too many of them this week.

After breakfast, we got on the bus and took a trip outside the city of Buenos Aires and went to a public university and to a public hospital called Paroissien Hospital. At the hospital, we walked around and were shown some of the different departments and ICU’s. It was a great experience and everyone was so nice. I noticed a lot of similarities and differences to the two other hospitals that we have visited so far on this trip. The tour and overall feeling inside the hospital was different from yesterday’s time at the other public hospital. Yesterday, a lot of us felt like we were intruding on the ICU patients, but today they took us in most of the main hospital hallways and when we did see patients, we were in smaller groups.

Over the course of the last couple of days, I have noticed that Argentina and their healthcare system promotes equity in many ways. A main part of equity is giving people what they need in order to get to the same common point, instead of giving everyone the same exact thing (equality). Argentina’s healthcare system is free to all, and healthcare is constantly pushed as being a universal right in the country. This gives everyone an equal opportunity to get treated without being burdened by financial consequences. Additionally, the public hospitals are accessible to everyone even if they are covered by another sector in the healthcare system, such as the obras sociales or the private healthcare system.

We visited Universidad de la Matanza, and I learned a lot about the education system in Argentina and how it promotes equity as well. The main way that it does this is that college is free, so everyone has the opportunity to go and get an education even if they do not end up graduating later on or they have some financial issue (financial issues are a common reason why people cannot go to certain universities in the United States). Everyone at the University was really nice and we learned a lot about the nursing program at the school. We talked to current students in their program and got a tour of the campus. Additionally, we ate lunch at the cafeteria (I can say that it was better than the eatery food)! I felt extremely welcomed by the people who we talked to at the school and I would definitely recommend the future Plus3 Argentina programs to go back!

Overall, today was a great experience and I have attached some pictures below… ¡Hasta luego!