We started today off bright and early and drove to the Santa Maria Children’s Home just north of the city where we were met by Sister Carla, the nun who runs the clinic and children’s home, as well as four students from Austral University. They mentioned that the clinic, which sits in a relatively remote and less wealthy area of the province, mostly receives funding from the municipality and Austral University, as well as some community donations. They explained that since the funding they receive is quite limited, they could not afford to keep doctors on staff and instead the doctors that were there were all volunteers from the area. The clinic itself had three consultation rooms, a room designated for vaccinations, and a room that had an electrocardiogram that they recently got. We also saw their records room, which they said contained up to date files on their patients, explaining that they have yet to digitize any of their records because it only recently became a standard in Argentina to have digital records.

After finishing our tour of the clinic, we headed over to the children’s home where we got to play with some of the kids for a bit. The nuns explained that the children’s home was not exactly like an orphanage or foster home but more like a free daycare center for families that cannot have their kids at home during the day for whatever reasons so instead they send them to Santa Maria after they go to school in the morning. I met a little girl named Emma and we just sat on a bench while she told me about her family and some of her favorite things. She even introduced me to the school’s dog named Milo, who had a very adorable vest with dinosaurs on it.

We then went to visit Austral University where we learned more about the more well-funded parts of the private sector. They showed us parts of the campus before taking us to the hospital/medical school and showing us their extensive pediatric and maternal care floors, as well as some of their emergency and ICU wards. We also listened to a couple lectures about their health insurance plans and how that works in a system with both public and private health care coverage.

What I noticed most in regards to the private sector was how different funding was from place to place. They seemed to not have a ton of clinics or outpatient centers so places like the Santa Maria clinic were few and far between. There is also just a major benefit to buying into a good, comprehensive healthcare plan that people can really only afford if they are middle or upper class. If they aren’t, they are relegated to the public system which might not have the resources they need, which then creates demand for clinics like the one we saw today.