I think we've all settled into life in Bolivia. We got to experience a little bit of everything today. We started off with a visit to the Hospital del Nino which is a community hospital for children. We started off in the oncology ward and were included in the medical rounds and then had a tour of the entire hospital. We brought some of the donated supplies to try and brighten the children's days and make life a little easier on the families. Unlike in the US, all of the medical supplies and medicine the families, which are often incredible poor, are paid for by the families.
It was hard seeing children who may not receive the best care because they could not afford it. We were also informed that many of the supplies and toys had to be locked up so the families and and even the staff would not steal them away from the patients. We passed around
Bandaids that were colored with cartoons which made many of the children smile.
After our visit to the hospital we drove to Karola's mother's house for a delicious lunch of fish, rice noodles and vegetables. We took a nice walk through the Valle de la Luna (moon vally) which is what is depicted in our pictures. The formations were made from a mud slide which then froze and was carved out by a river. The weather during the walk was so crazy compared to the weather at night, I think it changed about 50 degrees.
We got our first view of some physical therapy when we visited Karola's clinic. We observed passive ROM and stair training with crutches. It took all of our input to figure out how her patient would go down the stairs because there are no walls or railings at her stairs at school (no Americans with Disabilities Act here).
We finished up the day with a nice dinner at a cafe and some conversation and reflection on the day.
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