Today, we once again had an early start to the morning, as we had a LONG bus ride to Astral University’s campus all the way in Pilar! This was the first nap of the day, and it is safe to say it was the best one. We arrived and had breakfast before we met one of the founders of the hospital, Dr. Marcello Pellizzari. He explained the five main pillars of the institution, emphasizing the fact that they are driven by being patient center. He explained that although the hospital is relatively new, it is also one of the leading hospitals in the nation for innovation, and was even the first in Argentina to be awarded the JIC Award. He brought up how he recently traveled to the United States, where he saw that the Univeristy of Pennsylvania’s hospital received a $175 million grant to be used towards research. He explained that that money would do wonders here in Argentina, but large sums of money are typically hard to find to fund research without lots of fundraising. Following the information session, we toured the hospital and it was actually very similar looking to one in the US. Compared to the lavishness of Swiss Medical, it was much simpler, yet still had large, clean, private rooms and a fully functioning kidney transplant center. I think looking at the two private hospitals, it is clear just how much funding Swiss Medical had. Dr. Pellizzari told us that they have over 6 million payers, while Austral only has 30,000. Swiss Medical actually has a 30% share with Austral because of this! While Austral did not have marble flooring and ribs on their menu, it was clear that both the private hospital would offer a much better patient experience, due to the emphasis on privacy, the tools, and the quality of care.
Following the tour, we walked over to the business building to have a mixer with some of Austral’s students! We talked about the many things that we have in common, even while studying on different continents. We also enjoyed some more delicious empanadas!
Once, again it was time for another nap, as we were on the way to San Isidro public hospital. We were informed that it was one of the wealthiest provinces in Buenos Aires, which was telling by the way the hospital looked just by walking it. It was a million times cleaner and more modernized than Fernandez, but still faced many of the same issues. Their biggest issue was that of being at max-capacity, as the hospital is meant to serve six difference areas. I honestly felt a bit sad when Nurse Maria Richards was talking about how there’s just as many people in San Isidro as in Pittsburgh, yet we have almost 3 times the beds in one hospital alone. I think I put it together that we take so much for granted back home, while yes hospitals are grossly over priced, we would never have to worry about there not being a clean bed or a lack of medicine once we do finally have to go. Finally it was time for the third nap of the day!
Today was quite a long, but informative day, but I cannot wait for the ranch tomorrow!
