Continuing our trip, we were welcomed to Hospital San Rafael by Dra. Zulma Mendez and her staff at Hospital San Rafael to talk to patients and assist in information collection.
On Monday, we were welcomed to Hospital San Rafael and La Clinica de Atencion Integral (in English, comprehensive care clinic). Mendez specializes in the support and treatment of HIV patients, many of which come from all over El Salvador to seek treatment. Surprisingly enough, we were allowed to sit in on and participate in real appointments. (Of course, not something you’d ever see in the U.S.) Dra. Mendez assessed the lifestyle and use of medication of each patient, all of whom were polite.
(Pictured: With financial help, our first patient will be getting a septic system installed soon!)
After that, we hopped in a 15-person-van and drove to the homes of various patients, some more than 25 minutes away from the hospital, in different cities in La Libertad, and in rural and urban locations.
The experience was, at the very least, humbling. We went out to the houses of different female HIV patients, many of whom were from unfortunate socioeconomic circumstances and lacked much-needed support from their families in their diagnosis. They lived with multiple people to the bed, latrines and sometimes no electricity, because their illness and the extreme financial extortion imposed by gangs left them with almost nothing to live off of. Through these visits, we conducted interviews with the patients, in which we found out about their family circumstances, the amenities of their homes and their treatment plans. Often times, the children/siblings of the patient must aid them with receiving and taking their medicine.
I was taken aback by how kind and welcoming the patients were, letting us sit in their home and play with their kids with no prior knowledge of our arrival. All of these women were strong and persistent in their own way, and I felt privileged having been able to hear their stories firsthand.
We will continue these visits throughout the week, until our departure!
More to come!