Today we had a really educational day. We had the privilege to tour Horacio Oduber Hospital that was named after Dr. Horacio. We got to see different floors and speak to a nurse who works at this hospital.
Some interesting facts we took away today:
- Aruba has 9 districts and each of these districts has their own pharmacies. However there are some medications that are available only at the hospital.
- Lupus is the leading cause for dialysis in the younger population.
- Compared to the US, they have one nurse per floor who would prepare all of the medication by hand. This will then be validated by another nurse before being distributed to the floor nurses.
- in Aruba there are different levels to nursing; in short you have HBO which is the higher level nursing and MBO which is the lower level nursing. Registered nursing is considered a level 4 in Aruba.
After spending the morning at the hospital we went to the Desalination plant of Aruba. Here we had an introduction to what they do and how the desalination process works. We got to drive around and see parts of the desalination plant.
- Water production only started in 1932 in Aruba.
- Sea water is 6000 times too salty for consumption.
- The process includes desalinization of the water, mixing it with minerals, adding some phosphate then disinfecting the water before it is distributed.
We are excited to go to a local nursing home tomorrow as well as jump 18.
See you all tomorrow!