There is no such thing as HIPPAA or patient confidentiality- you can bring whoever and however many people into the Dr.'s office with you that you want! It would be incredibly rude to tell someone they could not have their famliy with them. Also, there is no law saying that you must tell the patient everything. For example- if a person is terminally ill and their family tells the Dr. that they do not want the patient to know his or her bad prognosis, it is not mandatory for the doctor to tell the patient.
The doctor is considered a bad doctor if he doesn't give the pt medicine when they come in for something. For example if a pt came in clearly experiencing the flu virus and the doctor didn't give the pt antibiotics (though they are for bacteria not viruses) then it would not be likely that the pt would come back to the doctor.
There is a white cheese called queso fresco that they put on everything. No exceptions.
The Oaxaquenos (oaxacan people) are very very poor, but some of the friendliest, laid-back people I have ever met.
Dogs are not meant for petting here, especially not ones on the street. I truly think I am now developing a dog phobia because of it!
The bathroom in my room at my homestay has no mirror or toilet seat and my host mom says she doesn't find either of these things necessary...
Though the incidence of diabetes is EXTREMELY high down here (from all the corn they eat- 5-8 corn tortillas with EVERY meal) and therefore most people need to take extra care of their feet, a person would be brutally made fun of wearing closed-toe shoes. Que mala.
For the most part, health care is free down here for most people. Their health care system and programs are fairly comfusing but for the most part, anyone can receive medical care/treatment (i.e. meds, surgery etc.) most of the time for free. There are of course many exceptions to this but overall they don't pay for majority of medical services unless they go to a private care provider. For example, if a pregnant women is having a baby and wants to have a c-section, she is able to in the hospital for low or no cost however they perform vertical c-sections here. If she wants to have her c-section done horizontally along her stomach like we do in America, she must pay to go to a private doctor or partera.
In order to receive health care the government does mandate that each person attends a certain number of information sessions/lectures/conferences on different health problems that they may encounter. So for example, one week out of every month, eahc centro de salud spends the whole week giving a series of talks on things such as sexual health, hypertension, diabetes, breastfeeding and several other common topics that each person is required to come to and get their pass stamped. This is great in that it is mandatory health education for people of all ages. I found it very neat that at one of these talks given on breastfeeding, there were not only several pregnant women, but also women of all ages from teens to abuelas!
The clinics generally her are run by teenagers in the front (not medically trained), sometimes a nurse in the front, depending on size of the centro, and one doctor. The doctors here are required to do one year of "servicios sociales" (social service) immediately following med school. Once they complete their year fo service they ar then "officially doctors". All med students complete their year of servicios sociales in the area of family medicine/primary care and are primarily are the doctors that I will continue to be working with in the centros.
In terms of wildlife.. this is totally a tropical area! My host family has (as pets) 2 loros (parrots), 4 dogs, 9- 8 day old puppies, 50+ chickens/roosters (which they use for chicken fighting...), but NO cats (thank god!). Other animals commonly found in the yard however are birds of all kinds, iguanas (BIG LONG black ones!), and my least favorite due to their shrieking throught the night are cuijas (GECCOS!). However the geccos are said to be good luck if the are hanging from your ceiling (so I guess I'm lucky..) and they ar really good for eating the moscos (mosquitoes).
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