Today we took a trip about an hour outside Buenos Aires to visit the Austral University and hospital in Pilar. There we met some business and nursing students like ourselves and thought about different ways to tackle health challenges in America. Some examples being rural Pennsylvanian communities struggling to make appointments, and other groups being under insured or uninsured. Additionally, we toured the hospital to learn about how it is structured and heard a lecture about nursing in Argentina and the rest of the Americas which was very interesting to hear about.

Today we were told to recap our experiences and reflect about a challenge that Austral faces as a private hospital in Argentina. One of the challenges facing Austral is the fluctuating economy. From month to month they have no idea what their profits could be, what they are paying their staff, and what medical insurance coverage their patients have. As with any time of economic recession, many people risk losing their jobs, and this can mean health insurance is lost too. In Argentina, many people receive health insurance through their work union or through privately purchased insurance, which can both be lost with their job. This means that people cannot afford to go to private hospitals or seek care due to economic pressures, meaning hospitals like Austral do not have as much money coming in. With these challenges, if can be difficult to provide care to those who need it and keep paying staff. We learned that salaries can be negotiated monthly because of how much the value of the currency changes. From an accounting perspective, this can be very stressful to keep the hospital afloat. This is especially true for a model like Austral, which is based off a mission of helping and adhering to certain values over chasing a bottom line.