First week at the hospital

I am working at Eerste River Hospital about and hour from Cape Town. It is a fairly nice place and although it is said to be one of the best public hospitals in the Western Cape, it still is quite different from what is seen in the US. For the next two weeks I will work in the ARV Clinic (ARV stands for anti-retroviral drugs that are given to HIV patients), so I am basically working at a public HIV Clinic. For now I am just working the blood tests and helping sitting in with the Dr Mouton, the only doctor working at the clinic. That is the thing, there is usually only one doctor per department, and they are very very busy at times. What you notice is that the nurses (called sisters) do lots of work, and the patients are also responsible for carrying around their important medical information. Sitting in with the doctor is fascinating because some of the patients are recieving ARVs for the first time (it takes 4 weeks of counseling the get ARV clearance), so the doctor must stress how important it is that they do not miss ONE dose, or else the could become resistant. He says, "if want to stay alive, do not miss one day".

This weekend our group is going to the Garden Route which is an incredible trip through the Western Cape. I know I keep saying I will get pictures up soon, but like I said internet is tough to find for long periods of time (right now I am at our medical director's (Avril) house using her computer after our weekly meeting.

Thats all for now.

Totsiens!