Well hello from the Philippines!! Well our 1st few days in Manila have been early risers and intense however they have been amazing. From the moment we arrived we were graced with warm weather which the locals consider cold for this time of year, but hey from what I hear from back home I will take +27 over -50 any day!!

Our 1st Philippino meal tasted great however was quite interesting since throughout the meal we found mini fishes and pieces of chicken heart/liver scattered in and amongst the majority of the dishes. Not what we were expecting but hey, thats traveling.

Today was the 1st day of many that was full of learning opportunities. We met with faculty as well as the vice chancellors since the chancellor was unable to attend due to a meeting from the UP University of Manila. Everyone has been so welcoming and hospitable.  We learnt about their curriculum, compared it to ours at the U of S and learnt how they approach health care for individuals, the family, the population, and the communities. We were then given a tour of the Philippines General Hospital. It is absolutely massive! They have 1500 beds; compare that to the approximate 500 beds that the RUH has! 

The health care system here is partly funded by the government and partly private. The citizens must apply for the government funding but needless to say many do not do so until they or their family member needs the care. If you think waits in the hospitals in Canada take a long time you should consider this: the outpatient department of the Philippine General Hospital serves around 3500 patients PER DAY! That means that the wait line starts at about 2am and could mean that they stop accepting individuals by 7am! Unreal. There were people scattered all over waiting for care.

Since there are so many people that cannot afford proper health care there are "charity wards" which provide care for these individuals. The 1st 3 floors are delegated to these charity wards and the other 6 floors are for paying customers. They literally have wards for every type of care you can think of in both the charity and the paying wards. The burn unit even had their own operating rooms so they did not have to share with the other surgical ward. There was also 2 of nearly all wards- one for men and one for women. It was absolutely astounding! 

The supplies in the hospitals are obviously limited and therefore many health care professionals must be innovated and creative when it comes to their resources. An example: a young child was in traction (for those who do not know what this is it is when a bone is broken such as a femur they attach weights to the leg to align the bones before they set it) the hospital had run out of weights therefore they used a 4L jug with water instead. I'm sure this is just one of the many creative interventions that we will see during our time over here.

A major portion of the hospital is actually open to the "fresh" air therefore allowing cats to roam throughout. But I guess, which would you rater cats or vermin?? Even though these strays were present this hospital was unbelievably clean. It smelt clean and no ward had the typical smell that many wards that we have all visited do. In a hospital such as this I would have expected to have smelt many of the unpleasant human smells however this was not present at all.

WOW! I could go on and on... Just a few more tidbits

-Filipinos are very religious and therefore we were told that they DO NOT believe in divorce, they DO NOT believe in abortion, therefore women must go "under ground" to receive the procedure which must be ridiculously unsanitary and unsafe

- we were also told that HIV is  only brought in by oversea workers and that there is a very low rate here however the STI rates are very high?? Well what do you think about this comment??

Anyways I could go on and on but I must have an early night because they like their mornings bright and early here!!

Chelsea and the Philippine nursing crew