Hi everyone, and welcome back to my blog!
Now that you’ve gotten to know a bit more about me, I’m very excited to tell you about our first week in Santo Domingo.
Shortly after departing from our homes on Saturday, Ansh, Zoe and I met up at the Miami airport. A quick two-and-a-half-hour flight later, we were touching down in Santo Domingo, and waiting for our luggage at baggage claim. Outside of the airport, we met up with Freddy, who drove us back to our apartment, with a quick stop at Barra Payan, a classic DR sandwich shop along the way.
In our attempts to settle into the apartment and get ourselves situated, we’ve visited a few different supermarkets to buy some necessities and some massive avocados!
Throughout the week, we’ve had a few meetings with our on-site mentors,
George, Teresa, and Dr. Floren. In these meetings, we’ve been discussing some of the leading causes of neonatal mortality in the Dominican Republic, such as jaundice and intrapartum asphyxiation as well as the limiting factors preventing care of these conditions.
We’ve also spent a lot of this week conducting independent research to prepare for our clinical site visits next week. To prepare for our site visit to the eastern Dominican Republic next Thursday, we’ve read about the history of the bateyes, towns with large Haitian immigrant populations subject poor living conditions. These populations are often far from a hospital where they can receive maternal care. Dr. Floren asked us to look into case studies about maternity waiting homes as a possible solution. These maternity waiting homes have been implemented worldwide as a stepping stone between community care and hospital care, to ensure proper maternal care for women at high risk due to anemia, hypertension and infections during their last weeks of pregnancy.
On Thursday, we were able to go on our first clinical visit to San Lorenzo de los Minas Maternal and Child Hospital. While there, we visited the NICU, the PICU, where we were able to see our first Pumani bCPAP machines.
In addition, we saw their kangaroo mother program, the triage area, and their resident training room for live birth and infant resuscitation. We also had the opportunity to talk with physicians about Minas Data, a website they are compiling to facilitate communication between physicians through case studies and editorials.
While the week was full of work, we’ve also had some time to get out and explore as well! One evening, we were able to head into the Zona Colonial, or the “old city”, a Columbus settlement and the first point of influence for Spanish rule over the Americas. On Saturday, we explored Los Tres Ojos National Park, four freshwater lagoons situated in underground caves, before heading up to Boca Chica Beach for dinner and a quick swim.
It’s been a great first week, and I look forward to sharing more with you all soon!
Till next time,
Anathea