A THIRD WORLD HOSPITAL VISIT

TWO DAYS IN A THIRD WORLD HOSPITAL

They do the best they can with what they have

        It looked like a hospital, smelled like a hospital so it must be one. Entering the hospital a whiff of antiseptic cleaner was reassuring.  In hind sight I have no complaint about the cleanliness of the facility. The use of gloves seemed appropriate, but mask use was way over the top. One hung around everyone’s neck or from an ear. A need to mask up to take my blood pressure---really? In the ER I observed packaged needles, syringes, IV fluids, medicine vials provoking no worries there.

     Narcotics were not in short supply; they were nonexistent. I was told no codeine, oxycodone or other narcotic was on the islands. Ibuprofen was readily available and was always given with a pill ‘for your stomach’. The pills came in uni-dose packs. That’s good! In the ER as soon as I slid from the gurney onto a more sturdy stretcher/bed a nurse appeared at the bedside table and started to prepare an IV. She had a 250cc bag of solution and two vials of medicine. Before she opened anything I asked what it was----didn’t want her to waste the material by opening them.

   Unable to get any kind of answer I made it clear I was refusing any IV. It was my desire to stay clear headed and alert. A Cuban doctor, who had been on the island four months, arrived having read the X-rays I’d had taken in a facility around the hospital’s corner. The X-ray machine appeared modern and the technician knowledgeable as well as friendly and concerned, The doc started talking surgery, which I knew he would. I was pretty adamant in my refusal, which he did not argue with. I instructed him, “Just immobilize my leg so I can travel.”

     He applied a plaster soft cast and admitted me to the hospital for observation. By the time I was in a hospital bed it was nearly 10:00 PM—eleven hours after the injury.  Now it’s time for many surprises. Apparently the hospital had no elevators as I was wheeled up a long moderately steep ramp broken in the middle by a 90-degree turn.  Not having seen a hospital ward for decades I was a bit surprised to be wheeled into a 6-7-bed ward, but the real shocker was to see four males occupying the other beds.

    What the heck, a curtain could take care of that---except there weren’t any! Between the beds or at the windows. There was a 6-foot screen on a metal frame between my bed and the next. The outside walls were all tinted glass which in the right light acted like a mirror of the entire room! We  know all privacy is now lost with technology, but this was a bit much!  Once in bed I looked for the call light and bed rails. Where could they be---nowhere. There was one plastic patio chair in the entire room and we happened to have it—and kept it.

    The tissue paper thin sheets did nothing to prevent the plastic mattress cover from creating a lovely

contact/heat-related dermatitis.  I guess Americans are funny as I had to ask for a pillow. I did get it in a timely manner and then I asked for another  so I could elevate my leg. The nurse returned a few minutes later with a comforter that had been cut in half. She folded one half and put it under my leg and then carried the other half out of the room---but not before I asked her to hand crank up the bed. How many years since they have disappeared? There was no bathroom in the room—not that I could have gotten to it, and somehow in this process a bulky old steel bedpan arrived on my bedside table.

    It’s a good thing I knew what to do with it, but I was on my own to maneuver it. This is definitely a place where a patient needs an advocate as my daughter did all the empting of the bedpan and bringing me T>P>from the bathroom across the hall. The next morning I asked and made motions for something to wash with-just a wet washcloth would have been nice. “Uno momento”, meant never. Handi-wipes would have to do!

     My ‘observation’ consisted of seeing no one after I got the folded comforter until 5:00AM when the lights in the whole room---no bedside lights--- were turned on and a masked someone came in to take my BP.

    The food was terrible and always arrived cold. Fortunately my daughter had access to a restaurant across the street from the hospital and she brought me food and all the  bottled water I needed. There was no water pitcher nor glass left for me!

    You can imagine how thrilled I was, because of the involved arrangements needed to be made to get me home, that I had to spend an extra day in the hospital. All I can say is they did the best they could with what they had, but thank goodness my stay was no longer!