Puerto Viejo, Hospital Calderon Guardia, the Caja, Los Chiles and more… get pumped!
Puerto Viejo
Jhalak and I at Playa Cocles in Puerto Viejo !
To start: Puerto Viejo was a blast :))) Our friends weren’t able to meet us, so it was a duo trip with Jhalak! Friday was Playa Cocles, where we had the beach all to ourselves due to the strong waves being more surfer friendly. (photo alert!) A nice read for a couple hours started off the weekend on a relaxing foot. Saturday we were up bright and early for a bus to Cahuita National Park and an 8.3 km hike around the park. Think gorgeous views of the Caribbean Sea on one side and a jungle of animals on the other: a dream!! (photo alert!) After three hours of hiking and photos and semi-fresh bagels we were once again waiting for the bus to Puerto Viejo. We once again hit the beach and got some yummy chips & guac and street food. (photo alert!) Sunday we failed to wake up for the sunrise but made it to Playa Negra after a typical breakfast (with Caribe flair of course) before the bus back to Limon and then home to San Jose. A somewhat busy but beautiful trip!
Enyucada (yuca filled w/ cheese) and fried/grilled up with some bbq on the side. aka Puerto Viejo street food at its finest
Punta Cahuita
The Caja
Before getting into this week’s activities I learned a bit more about the Caja and the hospital system I wanted to share, an add-on if you will to last week’s brief overview. I’m going to do a quick patient flow to show how it looks from the perspective of a patient when going through the public healthcare system. First they go to their local Ebais, which is like your general practitioner, no surgical or emergency services. If they need more specialized care than can be provided, the next place they are sent is a clinic or CAIS depending on the issue, but emergency needs will immediately be sent to hospitals (including births). So the hospitals are at the top, since they offer the widest range of services and are larger in size typically, however within the hospitals there is a hierarchy as well. Peripheral hospitals < Regional hospitals < National hospitals. The national ones are the largest, and due to the high population density, all three national hospitals are in San Jose. Two of the three are ones we’ve been to so far: Hospital Mexico and Calderon Guardia! Check this link if you’re curious about how everything funnels into the national hospitals, specific hospitals send their patients on to the predefined hospitals (especially the map photo).
Meditek (San Jose, Los Chiles, & San Carlos)
Suited up for the Operating Room
Monday and Tuesday we were actually at Hospital Calderon Guardia fixing smart beds and performing preventative maintenance on anesthesia machines. The smart bed mattresses need to be replaced every so often due to natural wear and tear. They actually had a pretty complex system with lots of clips and nodules for extra security ensuring the electronic components and tubes were secure to the mattress and the mattress was secure to the bed frame. Fun fact: inside the smart bed mattresses surrounding the electronics is a fireproof blanket to ensure if anything electrical malfunctions the patient remains safe. The maintenance on the anesthesia machines was general cleaning, calibration, and tests to ensure no leakage within the system.
Britt gourmet hot cocoa @ work = delish!
Wednesday began with a wait for our coworkers before heading to Los Chiles, all the way up by the Nicaraguan border. While waiting, we chatted with our supervisors to get a better idea of the hospital system (as mentioned earlier) and also quizzed them on all things Costa Rica. We confirmed the typical foods we had to try, asked them about local restaurants and cities/parks/beaches in CR we needed to visit, and asked about the convenience store snacks we must try. This led to a quick field trip to the store where we grabbed a bunch of ‘must-try’ snacks (so fun). We got Trits (think s’more with ice cream in place of marshmallow and more of a cookie than graham cracker), Chirulitos (think veggie straws with 10x the flavor due to spices), a Yipy bar (layered wafer bar dipped in chocolate), and Tapitas (rolo shaped chocolate with peanuts). Favorites: Trits (!) and the honey drizzled plantain chips! We made our way to Los Chiles after lunch but didn’t make it in time to go to the hospital, so we went to the hotel and got settled before dinner. Dinner was spent eating and watching the big soccer game of the season: semifinals to determine whether Alajuela or San Jose would be playing Cartago in the finals. Interesting thing, the teams play each other twice before the team advancing is determined (similar to US baseball with three games). Sadly an Alajuela win meant the finals would not be at the National Stadium, which is local in the La Sabana district in San Jose.
Thursday morning we went to the hospital to replace the regulator on their Steris sterilizer, a vapor-based autoclave, and do the tests to show the sterilizer was in working order. Something went wrong, as things do, which made this trip a little longer than expected, and after leaving we went to San Carlos for the next hospital. We got ‘lunch’ at 4pm haha then settled in again, this time at a hotel with thermal waters connected! #midnightswim Friday we got done early in San Carlos and were able to hit some tourist spots on the way back to town. We didn’t make it into Poas Volcano but did see a couple waterfalls, including San Fernando and La Paz! With La Paz we even found a short trail back behind it, putting us right in the action, and giving us a business-casual-clothed shower. (photo alert!) After making it back I rested and showered and then our GMI cohort met Dr. Wettergreen + Claudia and Ada for dinner at Republica as a final dinner before they head back to the US.
La Paz from the front.
La Paz from the back.
Jhalak & I behind La Paz waterfall !