terrierist
06-23-2009, 02:39 AM
So, after being prompted by Yayow to share more, I do remember an incident of interest from my last trip:
I had spent much of the day with my "date". We went to the Rio (a river where the locals like to go swimming and day camping. I never found out the exact name). It was near the Santiago turnoff on the way from Puerto Plata to Sosua. The weather wasn't kind and we were not only rained out, but we motoconcho'd through quite a bit of rain too. So...I invited my date and her kids back to my condo for a swim in the pool. A very rare treat for them, and one I will not repeat often. But it was an even greater hit when DominicanBilly cooked the little rascals (and me) some hot dogs.
While there, my date was sitting on a railing. She noticed one of her boys misbehaving and made a quick turn, skidding her butt across the pine railing. To make a long story short, a couple of inches of pine splinter was quickly embedded into her posterior, right through her jeans.
She asked me to help remove it, but as tempting as the offer was, the splinter was deep, and it had broken off about 1/2 inch deep into her buttocks. After some deliberation we decided that it had to be removed, and that we couldn't do it.
We called a motoconcho and rode to the public hospital on Avenida Circunvacion Sur (the main highway through Puerto Plata). The poor girl was one-cheeking it all the way...a real trooper. Entering Emergencia, we were directed to the trauma unit. There were three triage persons, three surgeons, and three interns? I really couldn't tell for sure. But it was like a MASH unit from the TV show, but in a cinder block building, not a tent. There were two young men on tables being operated upon, in plain view, and in obvious pain. I suspect they were victims of motorcycle accidents. I didn't (and couldn't, given my lack of Spanish) ask.
A triage person talked to my date and directed us to a table where she unceremoniously pulled down her pants to show her injury. They were insistent to know what type of wood...caoba or pino? I replied pino. I don't know what the significance was, but I am Canadian. I can recognize pine when I see it. An obviously senior doctor inspected the wound and directed the intern?. Then, he left and we were in the younger person's hands. He injected some freezing into the wound, withdrew his scalpel and proceeded to cut. I held onto my date's hands while she cringed. She was very brave but in pain...the freezing hadn't yet set.
After a few slices and much blood, he withdrew nearly an inch of wood and proceeded to stitch her up. Four stitches later we were presented with a piece of pine, a piece of paper and were invited to leave.
The paper was a prescription and we filled it at the pharmacy attached to the public hospital. The cost for 8 days antibiotics and some painkillers was 60 pesos. I only had a 100 peso bill. They didn't have the correct change. So...in a very unexpected turn of events, they gave me 50 pesos change. I guess they're not used to gouging Gringos there.
We took another motoconcho back...had to retrieve the kids.
The total time elapsed, including motoconcho rides...less than an hour. The total cost...150 pesos. 100 pesos for the two motoconcho rides, and 50 pesos for the medicine. The emergency medical treatment, while not fancy, was clean, efficient and FREE!!! No bureacracy, no paperwork. Just triage, repair, and release.
So here I sit, back in Canada. I remember last year when I sliced my thumb open fixing a furnace flue. I spent four hours in emergency just to get three stitches. And the deductible on my health insurance was about 20 dollars. I know we're only talking emergency trauma medicine here, but I really have to rethink what value our expensive Canadian health system brings. There was nothing fancy about the public hospital in Puerto Plata, but it was clean, efficient, and effective.
As a side note, this same lady's youngest child was ill with a fever and dehydration a few days later. She took him to a clinic, not the hospital. The hospital was good enough for her, but not for her children. That cost me 500 pesos...still cheap by Canadian standards. And no, it was not a ruse...I paid the clinic bill myself. I did not give the money to the lady.
I had spent much of the day with my "date". We went to the Rio (a river where the locals like to go swimming and day camping. I never found out the exact name). It was near the Santiago turnoff on the way from Puerto Plata to Sosua. The weather wasn't kind and we were not only rained out, but we motoconcho'd through quite a bit of rain too. So...I invited my date and her kids back to my condo for a swim in the pool. A very rare treat for them, and one I will not repeat often. But it was an even greater hit when DominicanBilly cooked the little rascals (and me) some hot dogs.
While there, my date was sitting on a railing. She noticed one of her boys misbehaving and made a quick turn, skidding her butt across the pine railing. To make a long story short, a couple of inches of pine splinter was quickly embedded into her posterior, right through her jeans.
She asked me to help remove it, but as tempting as the offer was, the splinter was deep, and it had broken off about 1/2 inch deep into her buttocks. After some deliberation we decided that it had to be removed, and that we couldn't do it.
We called a motoconcho and rode to the public hospital on Avenida Circunvacion Sur (the main highway through Puerto Plata). The poor girl was one-cheeking it all the way...a real trooper. Entering Emergencia, we were directed to the trauma unit. There were three triage persons, three surgeons, and three interns? I really couldn't tell for sure. But it was like a MASH unit from the TV show, but in a cinder block building, not a tent. There were two young men on tables being operated upon, in plain view, and in obvious pain. I suspect they were victims of motorcycle accidents. I didn't (and couldn't, given my lack of Spanish) ask.
A triage person talked to my date and directed us to a table where she unceremoniously pulled down her pants to show her injury. They were insistent to know what type of wood...caoba or pino? I replied pino. I don't know what the significance was, but I am Canadian. I can recognize pine when I see it. An obviously senior doctor inspected the wound and directed the intern?. Then, he left and we were in the younger person's hands. He injected some freezing into the wound, withdrew his scalpel and proceeded to cut. I held onto my date's hands while she cringed. She was very brave but in pain...the freezing hadn't yet set.
After a few slices and much blood, he withdrew nearly an inch of wood and proceeded to stitch her up. Four stitches later we were presented with a piece of pine, a piece of paper and were invited to leave.
The paper was a prescription and we filled it at the pharmacy attached to the public hospital. The cost for 8 days antibiotics and some painkillers was 60 pesos. I only had a 100 peso bill. They didn't have the correct change. So...in a very unexpected turn of events, they gave me 50 pesos change. I guess they're not used to gouging Gringos there.
We took another motoconcho back...had to retrieve the kids.
The total time elapsed, including motoconcho rides...less than an hour. The total cost...150 pesos. 100 pesos for the two motoconcho rides, and 50 pesos for the medicine. The emergency medical treatment, while not fancy, was clean, efficient and FREE!!! No bureacracy, no paperwork. Just triage, repair, and release.
So here I sit, back in Canada. I remember last year when I sliced my thumb open fixing a furnace flue. I spent four hours in emergency just to get three stitches. And the deductible on my health insurance was about 20 dollars. I know we're only talking emergency trauma medicine here, but I really have to rethink what value our expensive Canadian health system brings. There was nothing fancy about the public hospital in Puerto Plata, but it was clean, efficient, and effective.
As a side note, this same lady's youngest child was ill with a fever and dehydration a few days later. She took him to a clinic, not the hospital. The hospital was good enough for her, but not for her children. That cost me 500 pesos...still cheap by Canadian standards. And no, it was not a ruse...I paid the clinic bill myself. I did not give the money to the lady.