Today we started off our day with tango lessons at IES. It was so cool to hear about the culture of tengo and watch the dancers perform. We than went to see a public hospital called Paroissien Hospital of UNLaM. This hospital is responsible for about 2 million people and are known for high level care in the public sector. They offer a ton of services to the community to get the residents help including mental health resources, vaccinations, education services for people who couldn’t finish high school and sexual education. This hospital also has a pharmacy that accepts prescriptions from other places. Unfortunately many patients struggle to keep up with their health after discharge. I found it really interesting that only 20 percent of patients covered from obras sociales. Compared to the hospital in San Isidro, this hospital is clearly less funded. The building needed a lot of repairs such as exposed wires and leaking ceilings. We than had the opportunity to meet nursing students at National University of La Matanza, which and watch them perform CPR on a simulation. These students created a presentation to teach us a little about their nursing program and we did a Q and A session to answer questions on both sides.
Federalism is the distribution of power to different levels. In the U.S. power is divided into federal, state and county while in Argentina, power is divided from the national level to the providences to the municipalities. The national level has money and than a portion is given to the providences which than gives money to the municipalities. The first public hospital we saw, San Isidro, is funded by the municipal. Since their municipal has a wealthy population they pay more in taxes leading to a nicer facility with more resources. The second hospital, Paroissien Hospital of UNLaM, is funded by the providence. This community is in a municipal that is low income meaning less money is paid in taxes. San Isidro’s hospital is in better condition but Paroissien Hospital of UNLaM is more know for higher complexity care and serve a lot more people. Unfortunately, the state of the hospitals located in each providence is determined by the wealth of the community.
