Hello Everyone!
I have survived my first week in the Philippines! Before I start talking about my experiences here. I’ll take you back to June 3rd, which is when we left Chicago to fly thirteen hours to Abu Dhabi! Something that stuck out to me on the flight was that the plane had a Mecca location pointer so Muslim passengers were able to pray in the direction of Mecca even in the air! I thought that was a very considerate, and thoughtful feature for the flight company to include. Overall, the flight was not too uncomfortable, I finally started feeling cramped at around the nine-hour mark, but I knew we were in the home stretch so I was able to persevere. Once landing in Abu Dhabi we got a van to the hotel and started exploring!
In Abu Dhabi, all the interns met on the rooftop pool and hung out, and decompressed from the flight. After a little bit, we all decided to try to find something to eat. Surprisingly this was a trickier task than expected! We walked around quite a bit in the blistering heat, and humid desert air before we threw in the towel and just went back to the hotel restaurant. I took a short nap, and then it was time to head back to the airport!
After a little wait in the airport, we started our nine-hour journey to the Philippines! I was able to sleep quite a bit on the plane so that made the trek easier. Soon, we finally landed in Manila! We went through customs and collected our bags. Then we met up with Tito Mon and his son, they gave us some instructions, and then let us go explore the airport while we waited for the other interns to come in. We ended up walking all over the airport just to finally settle at Denny’s for our first meal in the Philippines. After dinner, Kennedy and I decided to get a massage to pass the time, which ended up being the highlight of my travel journey! Finally, the other interns joined us and we left the airport to go to Los Baños. I encountered a bit of culture shock on the drive to the hotel. It was my first time seeing the living environment of some people here, and I started to think I may have been too ambitious in taking this internship, and that I might be in over my head. But, slowly that feeling has been going away, especially when I got to interact with Filipino people and experience how nice, and welcoming everyone is.
On the first day in Los Baños, I went to Breakfast/Lunch with two other interns, and then we met up with everyone else for our orientation with Tito Mon and his family! The orientation was very helpful and made me ready, and excited to go out and experience the Philipines! We learned some common Tagalog phrases and tried Buko Pie (Buko pie is made with young coconuts (buko in Tagalog), and uses sweetened condensed milk, which makes it denser than cream-based custard pies). Some of the phrases we learned were:
- Kuya- older
- Ata-older
- Aka po ay si= I am
- Taga= from – ako P.O.
- Pakikipag-kapwa tao= getting along with others
- Masarap= delicious
- Ma-ta-mis= sweet
- Ma-a-sim= sour
- Ma-pa-it= bitter
- Ma-al-at= salty
- Ma-ang-hang= spicy
- Salamat = Thank you
- Para= stop
- Bayad po. Pakiabot po. salamat pa.= Iiving payment to jeepney
After the orientation, we all went to dinner and tried traditional Filipino food. The restaurant was gorgeous with plenty of trees, and even a fish pond in the middle of all the tables. The ambiance added to the fantastic dinner. We ate grilled tilapia (bones, and eyeballs included!), chicken adobo, pancit, sour soup, and of course rice! After dinner, Sam Ocker and I left to go to our home for the stay, Santo Thomas!
On, June 7th we had our first day at St.Frances Cabrini Medical Center! We met up with Sir Jeff (our supervisor in the hospital) and went over more orientation information and an overview of what we would be doing in the hospital. During our internship, we will be getting experience on multiple different floors. They include a general med surg unit, OR, chemotherapy unit, dialysis unit, ICU/NICU, and ER.
This first week we spent most of our time in the general med-surg unit. But, when we had the opportunity we would go up to the OR. Sam and I both got to insert multiple IVs! We also got to watch two colonoscopies and a C-Section! The C-Section was fascinating, I learned that they insert a Foley catheter into the patient to drain the bladder to make sure it is not in the way during the operation. I also saw all the different layers of skin, fat, and muscle the surgeon has to cut through to finally get to the baby. Another shocking detail about the C-section was that from the first incision to the baby being removed it was only 20 minutes! I am so grateful I got the experience to see this operation and feel that I learned a lot. Also, happily, the mother and baby boy were both healthy and happy after the C-section!
Finally, here are some observations I have made about the differences between the Philippines and the United States. First of all, Filipinos are very happy people. Everywhere you go people are smiling and waving at you. Also, respect is super important. Everyone you meet we call ma’am or sir. It is also especially important to respect doctors in the hospital. Every time a doctor walks into the room everyone greets him or her even before they look up or make eye contact with anyone. it is also important to offer up your seat to the physician. Also, outside of the hospital it has become common for people to take pictures and ask to take pictures with Sam and me. Aside from customs and personality differences. The hospital is quite different from any I’ve had clinicals at in the States. First of all, the hospital is mostly reliant on paper records. While most hospitals in the states are paperless. There is also many more dialysis patient than I have ever seen in the States. I asked Sir Jeff and he said this is most likely due to the Filipino diet being high in sodium, and other unhealthy life habits. But, to conclude on a sweet moment, when Sam and I were walking around our neighborhood we passed a little girl, and her older brother. As we walked past I overheard her say to him “They look like the people from the movies!”.
Overall, this first week has been very educational, and I can already tell this will be a life-changing experience!
Stay tuned for next week’s update!
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