Trust: (n)
1. belief that someone or something is reliable, good, honest, effective, etc.
2. assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or trust of someone or something
3. dependance on something future or contingent
A common theme seen in countries where corruption exists is a lack of trust. I have been told that this dates because to the Spanish Inquisition for Guatemalans and have never had a real sense of trust since. It can be seen almost everywhere here in Guatemala. When shopping for equipment or parts in a store, there are 3 stations: the first is where you can order/ choose what you will be buying, the second is where you pay and the third is where you receive the items. This may not seem extensive on paper, but this process takes a very long time because the exchange of the goods from one person to another requires an inventory to be taken. Imagine purchasing 30 small screws at a time... All because there is not trust!
Gaining the trust of the technicians and then the doctors and nurses is absolutely the hardest part of this type of work., and for semi good reason. Why should these people trust and believe us? After all, aren't we just a bunch of Americans barging into the technical department of a hospital demanding medical equipment to repair? Some of the time they are not even fully informed about who are are and what we are there to do!
San Juan de Dios actually has a really great system of signing out the equipment to the maintenance department... the problem is the doctors do not trust the department enough to even send it down! There is a story from Roosevelt Hospital about a doctor who signed out and sent many pieces of equipment down to maintenance and never received it back. When the doctor went to retire, the hospital informed him that he owed for all of the missing equipment which he had seen down YEARS earlier. I have also observed a lot of uncertainty about the actual capabilities of the maintenance department that I cannot speak to because I am not sure they actually know themselves. This is the type of need that is not as obvious at a first glance but is so very, very important for success. I hope that our group is able to pave the way a little bit and create an element of trust between the hospital workers and the maintenance team.
We had some REALLY great progress in the hospital on equipment this past week thanks to Joe Leir! He is from Canada but has been living in Guatemala for many years with his family. He started his love for repairing things at a very young age and has all the knowledge and experience to back it up! I was able to correctly diagnose the problem of the infant warmer as a faulty capacitor which was detected because it was no longer flat on top but a little rounded. This typically means that it had been blown and will no longer function properly. Then we cleaned it up really nicely, mostly dirty from all of the pollution in Guatemala City, replaced the light on top and installed new accessories such as a mattress and sides to keep the infant on the table. Another repair was the last ESU. The problem was a bug in the machine... no really, a cockroach crawled into the machine and fried to a crisp, requiring all 4 power transistors to be replaced and a few fuses in the process. This was also interesting because it required the switch in the back to be rewired but was not as easy as it sounds due to the need for a filter to prevent the large voltages from the machine going back into the wall. Another big fix was a defibrillator which only consisted of swapping out a battery... but how helpful and how fun to play with (hehehe)!!
On Friday, Laura and I made our way through hospital and were able to observe a surgery right in the room with them!! There are no observation decks in these hospitals. It was very cool and made me realize just how awesome these trips can be in terms of learning in ways that would never be allowed in the USA.
This weekend we traveled to Monterrico Beach to see the black sand, get flipped over by the waves of the Pacific Ocean and attempt to do some relaxing. It was SO hot there (not to complain or anything...) and I absolutely burnt the bottoms of my feet on the sand. The ocean was completely insane and flipped me all over the place. We woke up for 5 am on Sunday to do a boat ride through the mangroves to watch the sunrise and the animals wake up. Total serenity. I like to think of it as Guatemala's version of a gondolier. Also, our amount of physical activity from last weekend to this weekend only decreased by about 100%!!
Only one week lefftttttt don't make me leaveee !!
xox
1. belief that someone or something is reliable, good, honest, effective, etc.
2. assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or trust of someone or something
3. dependance on something future or contingent
A common theme seen in countries where corruption exists is a lack of trust. I have been told that this dates because to the Spanish Inquisition for Guatemalans and have never had a real sense of trust since. It can be seen almost everywhere here in Guatemala. When shopping for equipment or parts in a store, there are 3 stations: the first is where you can order/ choose what you will be buying, the second is where you pay and the third is where you receive the items. This may not seem extensive on paper, but this process takes a very long time because the exchange of the goods from one person to another requires an inventory to be taken. Imagine purchasing 30 small screws at a time... All because there is not trust!
Gaining the trust of the technicians and then the doctors and nurses is absolutely the hardest part of this type of work., and for semi good reason. Why should these people trust and believe us? After all, aren't we just a bunch of Americans barging into the technical department of a hospital demanding medical equipment to repair? Some of the time they are not even fully informed about who are are and what we are there to do!
San Juan de Dios actually has a really great system of signing out the equipment to the maintenance department... the problem is the doctors do not trust the department enough to even send it down! There is a story from Roosevelt Hospital about a doctor who signed out and sent many pieces of equipment down to maintenance and never received it back. When the doctor went to retire, the hospital informed him that he owed for all of the missing equipment which he had seen down YEARS earlier. I have also observed a lot of uncertainty about the actual capabilities of the maintenance department that I cannot speak to because I am not sure they actually know themselves. This is the type of need that is not as obvious at a first glance but is so very, very important for success. I hope that our group is able to pave the way a little bit and create an element of trust between the hospital workers and the maintenance team.
We had some REALLY great progress in the hospital on equipment this past week thanks to Joe Leir! He is from Canada but has been living in Guatemala for many years with his family. He started his love for repairing things at a very young age and has all the knowledge and experience to back it up! I was able to correctly diagnose the problem of the infant warmer as a faulty capacitor which was detected because it was no longer flat on top but a little rounded. This typically means that it had been blown and will no longer function properly. Then we cleaned it up really nicely, mostly dirty from all of the pollution in Guatemala City, replaced the light on top and installed new accessories such as a mattress and sides to keep the infant on the table. Another repair was the last ESU. The problem was a bug in the machine... no really, a cockroach crawled into the machine and fried to a crisp, requiring all 4 power transistors to be replaced and a few fuses in the process. This was also interesting because it required the switch in the back to be rewired but was not as easy as it sounds due to the need for a filter to prevent the large voltages from the machine going back into the wall. Another big fix was a defibrillator which only consisted of swapping out a battery... but how helpful and how fun to play with (hehehe)!!
On Friday, Laura and I made our way through hospital and were able to observe a surgery right in the room with them!! There are no observation decks in these hospitals. It was very cool and made me realize just how awesome these trips can be in terms of learning in ways that would never be allowed in the USA.
This weekend we traveled to Monterrico Beach to see the black sand, get flipped over by the waves of the Pacific Ocean and attempt to do some relaxing. It was SO hot there (not to complain or anything...) and I absolutely burnt the bottoms of my feet on the sand. The ocean was completely insane and flipped me all over the place. We woke up for 5 am on Sunday to do a boat ride through the mangroves to watch the sunrise and the animals wake up. Total serenity. I like to think of it as Guatemala's version of a gondolier. Also, our amount of physical activity from last weekend to this weekend only decreased by about 100%!!
Only one week lefftttttt don't make me leaveee !!
xox