December 30 Blog

By: Paige Thune

We started out our day with orientation to Mary Johnston hospital. From the college we walk through a walkway that connects straight into the hospital. We watched an orientation video that reminded us of the history of Mary Johnston Hospital. It was Mr. Daniel Johnston from St. Paul Minnesota, who donated $12,500 for the hospital to be built. The hospital is located in the heart of some of the greatest poverty in Manila. We then toured the hospital units and were introduced to the different areas that we will be working in during our clinicals next week. They included: Medical ICU, OB, NICU, operating room, pediatrics, pediatric ICU, medical surgical floor, and ER. While in the ER, we had an eye opening experience. As we entered, a man was really struggling.  His heart rate was in the 170's, he was substernal breathing, and was on the verge of coding any minute. He needed to be intubated immediately and the doctor was explaining this to the patient's daughter. The daughter was asking the doctor to wait, in order to go find her mother as she was the one that would be making the decision about the care. As we debriefed about our orientation back at the college, Gina explained that this situation in the ER wouldn't happen in the US. If a patient was brought into the ER back home, the care providers would have "implied consent," and intubate them right away. But here in Manila, before anything is done they need a down payment or agree that they will be able to put a down payment for the treatment. The family needs to consider if it is possible to make the payment that the treatment will require. So this family was stuck. And they kept having to repeat "no wait," while this patient was failing.  We, then as a group were asked the questions: How would this feel if you were the doctor caring for this patient? Or the nurse? How could you stand by and not do anything while knowing that the reason for holding back life saving treatment is money? This devastating dilemma is something that occurs all the time in Mary Johnston hospital, and if we encounter it next week it is going to be a dramatic change from what we are used to in the hospitals back home. I myself, would really struggle having to stand by and watch nothing being done when it determines if the patients life would be saved or not. Although this may be one challenge, after orientation we were so excited to begin our clinical experience next week! It was made aware that we are going to have opportunities here in Manila that we would never have back home! So we are very anxious to see what next week brings :) We then packed up and began our two hour drive to the Camayan Resort. After we drove out of the city of Manila we began to see another side of the Philippines. We passed by rice fields, sugar cane fields, mountains, and small towns among the farming and the mountainside. When we finally stepped into the resort we couldn't believe how beautiful it was! The sun was shining, flowers decorated the grounds and the ocean and beach in front of us was surrounded by mountains. We spent the rest of the day in the water, laying out in the sun on the beach, and enjoying the view. Finally, we ended the night with dinner and enjoyed the warm weather on the beach listening to live music. It is very exciting to know we have another day and a half to enjoy here!

LInk to Mary Johnston Hospital (history)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zWwNHvZD7E

Mabuhay- LIVE, Tumawa-LAUGH, Pagalingin-HEAL 

(Thanks to Google translation!)