One of the interesting parts of studying abroad in Costa Rica this term has been the opportunity to visit a variety of healthcare settings and see the way things are done.
We hiked to this health outpost in a rural area. Among the challenges to delivery and access of care were its remote location—we had to hike through a forest along winding paths, and I could only imagine how much worse it would be during the wet season. Equipment and vaccines had to be carried between health posts. Some linguistic and cultural barriers also seemed to exist, since many of the patients were indigenous. In the face of such challenges, I was impressed at the extent to which healthcare providers really worked to bring the healthcare to people, such as the willingness of the doctor to travel to the health post, or the willingness of the technicians to carry the vaccines out in coolers.
An urban community in which we performed health outreach had different issues. In contrast to how remote and spread out the rural community was, the urban community was extremely overcrowded, with people cramped into rickety houses, and narrow alleyways full of stray dogs and trash. Challenges to healthcare delivery and access included immigration status and lack of knowledge about resources, as well as poverty. We had the opportunity to work with a great non-profit that provides free medical care to children there. They have a website if anyone wants to check it out: http://www.cwbfoundation.org/
This post was written by mi.zheng
