Amy at the hospital

I did my internship at three different health care facilities in the Cayo District: the Mopan Clinic, San Ignacio Hospital, and La Loma Luz Hospital. I was able to spend a week at each location and compare the different levels of health care, including the large difference between the public and private hospital. Most of my time was spent observing the doctors and nurses, registering patients, taking vitals, and helping wherever I could. I really enjoyed traveling with the Mopan Mobile Clinic out to the village of Arenal where we vaccinated children under five and distributed a worm treatment tablet to the school children. The village sat on the Guatemalan border and was only visited by the nurse every couple of weeks. I was also able to observe quite a few surgeries at La Loma Luz, including a laparoscopic gallbladder surgery. The largest difference between health care in Belize and in the United States is how long the patients must wait. All Belizean clinics are run on a first come/first served basis. It was not uncommon for me to see a patient in the clinic for over four hours. They never complain about waiting to see the doctor, because waiting is a fact of life in Central America.