Staff Lunch

Written by MS4BCV

Siesta, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is a mid day rest, and according to Cochabambans it is a reason to make lunch the most important meal of the day. Not long into our Bolivian excursion, did we realize that lunch, not dinner, is the most important event of the day. Lunch is a very leisurely meal in this country and as Americans we have to occupy ourselves with various activities to avoid the nap that is also a staple of many Latinos. Most businesses seem to shut down from the hours of noon to about 4 to ensure that everyone has ample time to siesta.

The above noted, putting together a lunch for the enter Burn Center Viedma staff was a goal of ours from the first day we arrived. Being able to invite the staff to a lunch shows our support of their work and further, their acceptance of our invitation means that they have also accepted us into their group. With the help of Cindy, we were able to set up such a lunch with the hospital staff and, interestingly enough, we left the choice of food up to the locals.

This past Monday we had the lunch and it went wonderfully. We (note: whenever I say “we” spoke to Dr. Romero I mean we smiled and nodded with some occasional Spanglish, the actually speaking/translating was done by Cindy Jackson, thanks!!) were able to tell Dr. Romero about the enormous support that the University of South Carolina School of Medicine had generated for his burn center in Cochabamba. The meal was a popular Bolivian dish called “picante de pollo y lengua” and included Tongue, Chicken, and freeze dried potatoes among other things, and of course some more smiling, nodding, and the obligatory acceptance of second helpings (I later realized that I was the only one suckered into second helpings of Tongue). Throughout the meal Dr. Romero was able to communicate to us some major equipment and personnel issues that he deals with day to day. First off the government only allows him to have the use of an anesthesiologist for three hours every morning, and when that time is up the day’s procedures are too. He stated that if he had access to a full time anesthesiologist he could operate all day instead of just in the morning. Dr. Romero also expressed concern that we would think of his techniques as “barbaric.” In fact, we were very impressed with his innovation and adaptation to working with a low budget and lack of certain tools that he described as “essential” in an American operating room. By the lunch’s end we had decided that buying a patient monitor for the OR would be a very worthy use of MS4bcv’s funds. As of now, patients’ vitals are not precisely known which is potentially detrimental to the well-being of any patient.

Thanks to our midday meal with the hospital staff, we were able to strengthen the relationship between the burn center and the USC SOM community. We received lots of thanks from Dr. Romero for our interest in his burn center and the fundraising efforts of everyone back home.