Today started with a super good breakfast and an hour bus ride to a public hospital. We got a tour all through the public hospital. This was super eye opening to see all the different wards and areas of the hospital. A really interesting part of the tour is that the hospital is all one floor, so that if the area would ever get bombed, no one would assume it was a hospital. I never would have thought of that or worry about that, but other people have to think in that way. As we toured, the women all around the hospital were so motivated and happy. We asked questions about working in the public sector and if burnt out nurses go to private later. All these women were responding how they stay at the public hospital their whole lives all driven by the love for the people. On the bus after I was talking to Lynnea about how our favorite things, and walking around those hospitals made me want to be a nurse even more. The passion these people have working in healthcare was so inspiring.
After that we went to Universidad de la Matanza and got a tour of the campus and got to see their sim lab for the nursing school. That was really cool to compare our university to theirs. For example, their building was an old factory building and converted into a school and they had a decent sized campus to walk around. There were people out and about giving flyers and presenting things and it made me feel as if I was right back on a campus. My favorite part was sitting in the cafeteria and feeling like I was right back at school, and I felt like we blended in for the first time this trip. Everyone was laughing and talking, and talking all about what we learned that day. It felt like such a special moment and I could carry on a long conversation about what we have learned so far on this trip.
When looking at this school and talking about the equality it is vastly different from the states. The equity given by the Argentine government is so much more here. At Universidad de la Matanza tuition is completely free and there is a huge priority of getting first generations students into the university. The acceptance rate for the school is also almost 100% – So there is an equal playing field, anyone in theory can go. This is how Argentina also deals with healthcare. Everyone has access, but all of this relates back to quality. Higher access can lead to lower quality. If this were all equitable more schools would be in rural areas, and more healthcare facilities would be more staffed to get more patients cared for. Equity is the getting different levels of healthcare to get the same, good level of health.
