It's not every day you get to see a dentist set up shop in a tiny storage room, psych evaluations in a preschool room, tetanus and yellow fever vaccines in the hallway, blood-sugar tests in a teachers lounge, oh, and, a breast exam station* right beside the psych exam desk.
But, it was that kind of day at school today.
I was sitting in my teacher's lounge in our planning period, and in rolls an authoritative-voiced, polo-shirt-bedecked woman wearing lab gloves. Now, 99%** of all local costeños are capable of the sort of authoritative voices after which I've long lusted, so that on its own didn't make me blink, but the gloves did have me do a double take.
Turns out it was a nurse. Setting up shop in our teacher lounge. As she unloaded a needle box, "sterile" gauze, clipboards, and checked her phone (all while wearing the same lab gloves that I knew better to question whether they'd be changed, and what I realized was not an officially-logo'd polo but one that instead read DAYTONA BEACH SURF PARTY), I slowly pieced together the somewhat confusing particles and realized what was about to ensue: a whole set of physical exams and other offerings.
All public school teachers here belong to a union, that among other services (a sort of clubhouse with a restaurant, heavy discounts on cabins at the beach), takes out money from salaries each year and puts it towards preventive health, which comes straight to the school to provide services! We're talking full dental cleanings and exams, breast exams, electronic readings on blood pressure and blood sugar, and all the rest.
I find this highly progressive....if a bit disturbingly and completely less-than-sterile. My kind coteachers kept urging me to get exams done, even when I explained Peace Corps gives us the same services. (Aprovecharla! Es gratis! Importante! Animate!--Take advantage! It's free! Important! Animate yourself/Get moving!)
I couldn't help what wonder this sort of attitude resulted in on the vaccine front--"We have yellowfever vaccines. Have you gotten one in the last ten years?" You could just see everyone thinking...well...I don't want to miss out!
My former healthcare record worker self was cringing to the core..(results were just read out to the participant, not even a stab at documentation!)...but I realize that's not quite where we're at, here.
Although, on a side note, I have heard that Epic, the company where I used to work, did make a sales trip to Bogota...I'd have to assume that doesn't make it to the public health clinics...
Anyway, that was an interesting day. On a sidenote, to appease my coworkers, I got my blood pressure read: I found that even at school I manage to maintain a 100/70 sort of blood pressure. This, my friends, I consider my accomplishment of the week.
*So, there weren't actually mammograms of the x-ray sort, but they kept calling it a mamografia, which technically IS a mammogram...but I guess we were speaking in upgrades, here
** This is completely made up. Therefore, please assume an approximate 5% margin of inaccuracy.
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