Keeping with the pattern of my last two summers which began with trips to Azerbaijan and Hawaii, I began this summer with a trip before settling down to summer classes and work. This summer, I spent twenty-five days in the Dominican Republic (DR) learning about a new culture and shadowing in the public hospitals. It was an incredible and exhausting time in which I learned and saw so many things. Now that I’ve had a little bit of time to reflect on and digest the trip, I want to share about it, the program I went with, and the photos I took along the way (no blood, I promise)!

I went to the DR with a program called Gap Medics, an awesome UK-based shadowing program with locations all over the world! For me, this program was a fantastic opportunity to gain exposure I have never been afforded the opportunity to get in the US. It fulfilled two course requirements for me, and it was all around an amazing time of growth and reflection which helped affirm my goals and future direction.  

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I spent the first few days of the trip at a hotel with Mom and Dad, just relaxing by the pool and in the room, trying to recoup after my craziest semester yet. On Sunday afternoon, we all returned to the airport in Santo Domingo for them to fly home and I could meet up with the other incoming students and be taken to the GapMedics house with them.

Monday morning, I began what would be my weekday routine for the next three weeks:

6:00am– breakfast of pancakes, fresh fruit, eggs, and one local dish or another such as mangu

7:00am– downstairs, ready, bag packed to load the bus for placement

7:45am, approximately– arrive at the hospital and make our way through the seas of people the room where we could change into our scrubs

In my field notes I took while on the trip, I noted my first impressions of the hospital:

When we arrived, I was shocked by the number of people milling around outside. This shock continued as we entered the building. So many ill and injured people waiting in what felt like three different waiting areas. It all seemed chaotic and disorganized, and dirty. The heat hit us immediately upon entering the hospital walls, the air stale and humid.

8:00am– our mentors come to pick us up from the on-call rooms where we changed and stored our bags

8:00am-1:00pm– go wherever your mentor goes, absorb what they have to say, and learn, learn, learn!

My first week, I was in anesthesiology at Hospital Docente Universitario Dr. Dario Contreras, a major trauma hospital. First thing Monday morning, my mentor took our group into the OR. She showed us the patient’s scans, pointed out the abnormality, and explained what they would do during the surgery. There were eight operating rooms and we had the freedom to go in and out of them as we pleased, seeing a variety of surgeries from loads of fractures being stabilized to reconstructions; to put it crudely, we were pretty much kids in a candy store.

Many of my first impressions were not incorrect, but I learned more of the story as the week wore on.

The public hospitals are under-resourced and continuously trying to do the best they can for as many people as they can. Parts of the hospital were air-conditioned, especially the O.R.s which were often freezing! Similar to most government funded and run things, the hospitals could be better organized and kept. Despite all of this, in my week at Dario, I met so many doctors who know full well that the system is broken, but it’s the system they have so they work with it while trying to change it. The conditions they work in are far from ideal, and really showed the hearts these physicians have for their fellow Dominican people.

After placement on Monday, we returned to the house and had a chill afternoon, most of the students still recovering from their long days of travel on Sunday.

After placement on Tuesday, we went into town and experienced the Colonial Zone.

Wednesday, I did an afternoon shift in the ER before returning to the house for dinner and a global health tutorial in which the program manager, who is also an M.D., discussed the role of religion in healthcare in the DR.

Thursday, we spent time playing with the children at a local orphanage and had a BBQ back at the house along with karaoke!

On Friday, after a jam-packed week, we went on a trip which turned into quite the adventure. What we thought was a thirty-minute drive to a nearby lagoon and beach turned into a three hour and thirty-minute drive across the island all the way to the northern coast (Santo Domingo is on the southern coast). Although it wasn’t what we were expecting, I still enjoyed the adventure and seeing as much of the country as we did along the way.

 

All in all, I don’t think any of us would drive three hours to go back to the lagoon again, but the trip created lots of memories and a great story to tell! The beautiful scenery didn’t hurt matters.

The next morning did not bring rest, but another adventure! A small group of us took a trip out to Saona Island, off the eastern coast. It was a two-hour drive to La Romana, but we were prepared for the ride this time!

From the coast of La Romana, a thirty-minute speedboat ride took us out to Saona where a delicious lunch was provided, blue waters met white sand, and sunshine abounded!

A few hours later, a catamaran awaited to slowly but steadily return us to the mainland.

The sun beats down, the salty breeze runs through your hair, the music on the front deck pulses through your being, and you dance.