Presentation, presented!

As part of the rotation at Servicio de Adoloscentes, Dra. Santivañez asked us to do a 30-40 minute presentation. We chose the topic of nutrition during pregnancy and the first year after giving birth (i.e. nursing). I have been nervous about this all week, and I am so glad that it is over now! I videotaped parts of it and had Alexis videotape my part, so you can see how awful my Spanish is.


Despite the fact that I would rather not have had to give a presentation, I do have a bit of a crush on Dra. Santivañez. First of all, she is really pretty and well-dressed. The photo doesn't do her justice, so you'll have to trust me. Second, and more importantly, she addresses the person and not just the symptoms during visits. Every morning I saw her walk into the clinic and at least one girl in the waiting room would brighten and want to hug her and ask her something. As I understood more and more Spanish as the week went on, the conversations Doctora had with her patients were more impressive to me. She never preached, but she counseled. Sometimes she scolded, but never without seeming like a concerned mother. Basically she supports her patients in a way that empowers them. It's very impressive to me.


We walked down from the clinic to Hospital Arco Iris (which is where most of the adolescent moms go to have their babies) after seeing a few patients and doing the presentation. The picture to the left is looking down on a small marken in Alto Miraflores. There are similar ones all over the city, although the ones betweeen San Francisco and the cemetery seem to run into one another so it's just one enormous open air market, which gets set up and taken down every day.



I also took the picture to the right on the walk down. I've only seen these hung doll-men in Alto Miraflores, and they scare me a bit. I asked Dra. Santivañez about them, and now I know they are supposed to scare you. There have been a number of house break-ins in the area, and the dolls are meant as a threat to potential thieves. His shirt has some writing on it which I think says something about burning thieves.