Visits to hospitals

We spent all day yesterday in the office learning about processes and procedures. The team here is doing a wonderful job, and we learned a lot. Today, we drove about 2 hours to Esteli. The drive here was beautiful. Everything is very green. As you drive north out of Managua, you enter the mountains. Just like Managua, everything here is very green, with many fruit trees. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many mango trees!

We spent most of our day with the staff at a district hospital. They shared a lot with us about how they use products we send, and about other places where items come from. I can’t compare this to other hospitals in Central American Countries, but compared to those I’ve seen in Africa, this hospital is much larger, and much better supplied. That said, it is still nothing like hospitals in the US. They can still do only basic surgeries, and treat basic illnesses. The team here is very dedicated and very interested in helping the people in this community.

We also learned a lot about illnesses in this region. While children here are not malnourished, there are still many who are undernourished. From what I understood, things are getting better all the time, but they still have a ways to go. We did learn about several wonderful nutrition programs that are helping to address this issue.

And now for a little fun. We went to a Cuban restaurant for dinner. Much different from Nicaraguan food. Then back to the hotel. The hotel is very basic, and I’m very glad that the temperature outside is cooling down a bit. The small fan in the room wasn’t helping much earlier. Now, I’m entertained by a 12 inch TV (but it gets something like 100 channels), and the bugs crawling on the wall. They look harmless enough, so all is well. The hotel is inexpensive ($13), and you get everything you pay for, and not one thing more……
Tomorrow we will spend some time working with one of the communities, so that should be fun to talk with people and learn how we can assist them better. More then….