The next day we woke up early, checked out, and lugged our baggage to this market we heard about. after getting very lost for 15 mins, we finally found it. It was huge! We were there for 2 hours and probably didn't even see half of it. It was a bunch of vendors selling clothes, jewelry, souvenirs, etc. They were lined up and down roads that seemed to go on forever. I bought so many things for friends and family. I would have liked to stay there all day. Unfortunately we had a train to catch. So we went back to the train station, which is huge, ate some lunch and we were off to Alicante.
This whole week we have been in los Centros de Salud (Health Centers). This is the primary care for the citizens of each assigned area. Instead of going to your primary doctor for health check ups, post surgery check ups, etc. you go to these centers. They are beautiful. Luckily me and Jessica got positioned at the Health Center closest to where we're staying. It's a 5min walk. The center was built in 2005 so it is fairly new and up to date. I really like the system they have there. You walk in, sign in at the front desk, and they point you to where you need to go. They have a few sections of the center. There's the "Curas" section, where they take blood, administer injections, take out stitches, and changes bandages. This is where we were the first day. I really liked it here. We got to see a lot of post surgery patients. There was this one lady who is probably the skinniest person I have ever seen. She literally looked like a skeleton. At first I thought "Anorexic" but we later found out she has a disorder where her body cannot produce fat. She was not in the health center for this disorder, but for a terrible flesh eating infection on her ankle. This wound was harder to see than any of the surgeries I have seen thus far. Her leg is probably smaller than my arm. This is no exaggeration. From the bottom of her heel to mid calf was exposed inflamed muscle that was all infected. It looked terrible. I couldn't believe she wasn't hospitalized. All they did though was changer her bandages and clean the wound. She came back later this week (today) and the would did not look better. They said she would probably have surgery later in the month. I hope sooner than later.
The next day (Tuesday) we followed a nurse around. First she did house calls. She literally took supplies in her purse and we walked around Alicante going from house to house. In Spain, people who cannot walk or move are still able to receive health care, they just have doctors and nurses come to you. It seemed like no inconvenience to them. We went to this guys house who just had abdominal surgery. He was obese and was cut right down his belly. He had staples but I noticed a few were missing. The nurse told us they had to remove them because they got infected. Because he was so obese, the part where the staples were missing was not able to close, so it just left large gaping holes. It did not look good. He had two of them. One was a few inches above his belly button, but the other was about 3 inches below and under his roll of fat. This hole could be a good 5 inches deep because of how much fat he had. We asked the nurse if this was a concern and she was just like "I guess he'll just heel eventually. It will just take a while." And I'm thinking "Yeah if it doesn't get infected and worse by then." I just feel like in the US that would have never happened. I noticed a lot this week people coming into the Health Center for problems after surgery. Mostly problems with stitches. I know in the US they've been starting to use this glue that unites the skin from within the wound. This gives less chance of infection and a more appealing scar. It seems like that haven't met this technology yet.
After a few more house calls we followed the nurse to her office in the Health Center. She did consultations mostly with older adults that had diabetes, high blood pressure, and weight issues. She would give them a diet plan to stick to and suggestions to help lower blood pressure etc. She kept lecturing everyone on their weight and health, and the whole time I kept thinking "That's pretty hypercritical considering I've seen you smoke like 2 packs of cigarettes this whole day."People here smoke so much. It's disgusting. It's like they have no idea the kind of damage they're doing to their bodies.
Today we got to shadow a doctor. He did mostly consultations with patients who had all kinds of problems. Respiratory problems, medication refills, etc. The system here is very interesting. There're certain medications that aren't covered by the health care system that people need to pay out of pocket for. These are the kinds that pharmaceutical companies in the US go crazy for. The ones with all the commercials: Viagra, Zoloft, Celebrex, etc. People were coming in today asking for medication they heard of from their friend or on TV. The doctor was trying to explain that there are generic brands of these that are cheaper. But the patients didn't seem to understand. It's all a gimmick.
We asked the doctor what he thought of the heath care system here and he brought up a good point. People who are retired and receive pension in Spain get a lot of money through the social security system. They receive free health care and free medications, while the active workers don't use the health care as much and are still getting a large percentage taken out of their pay check. The doctor suggested that the government look into how much families are spending and factor that into how much is taken out of their paycheck every month. Here they take a certain percentage out depending on the bracket you belong to. The doctor was suggesting that the percentage should not be the same for everyone in the bracket. Makes sense.
Later today we asked a nurse what she thought of the health care system and she said that people take advantage of it too much. She said the elderly come in for every ache and pain because they can. One elderly man today I noticed was taking about 11 different medications. I thought that was a bit excessive. The nurse said that the elderly come in and complain about every little pain. She said they take up space, medication, and time for those who could actually use it. I asked what the demographics were for Spain in general and she said there are a lot of elderly and a lot of young children: two groups that need health care the most. This is why the waiting rooms were packed, people were complaining for waiting so long, and our nurse could only take a 5 min break for lunch. I guess it's not so different from the US after all.
Spain's Health Care system has a lot of positives but a lot of negatives as well. For example, if you need to see a specialist that is not under the health care system (Orthodontist, your own Gyno, chiropractic, etc) it takes forever to get an appointment. You also don't get as much as a personal relationship with your doctor. I know my pediatrician has known my family before I was even born. My mom has a relationship with him and trusts what he says. I don't know if I would like my kids seeing a different doctor every time I took them to the doctor's office.
Interesting...
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