Today was a long day of traveling! First we visited Thomas Reggio Primary Health. Sister Carla welcomed us and served us yerba mate! This is a public health center that serves its community. It is funded by the community, the municipality, and the government. 

I noticed many things while here. First thing that shocked me was the place was run almost entirely by volunteer healthcare professionals. They also had everything integrated together, dental, EKG, obstetrics, pediatrics, pharmacy, etc. I also noticed they were heavily focused on primary and preventive care for their community, as there were many pamphlets and informative posters. They try to prevent the need for their patients to need to transfer to the hospital. The entirety of their health records were kept on paper, which made it difficult when patients transferred between places. The nurse here was in charge of preliminary checks and scheduling patients so that each doctor saw 70 patients. This serves their low-income community by offering the best care they see possible, and allowing them to avoid the need of costly hospital visits.

Next, we visited the University of Austral and we focused on an activity in which we explored differences between the clinic and our healthcare back home. They served us a light lunch and we then headed to the hospital. This private hospital heavily values integrating education and healthcare. They also value prioritizing the whole person, and not just seeing them as a patient. 

When we toured this hospital, it was much larger and more funded than the smaller clinic we visited earlier in the day. The private hospital had the opportunity to prioritize certain patients who could afford their plan. They differentiated themself by allowing care of the patient and including the patient’s family in the care, along with each individual who worked there having a set of emotional values which match the goals of the hospital. 

Overall, everyone we met were really passionate about truly helping and impacting their patients. Each healthcare professional had a true love for their career and they cared from their heart for their coworkers and patients. The hospital focused on tertiary care which is more long term, and harder to treat with a lack of resources. The clinic focused on primary care which could allow people to avoid the hospital all together. Healthcare was delivered in each place with the same care and passion, the main difference was seen in the resources and funding that fed into each care facility.