WORKING AT BOQUETE'S CENTRO DE SALUD

During the past 3 months I've been doing some volunteer work, a couple mornings each week, at the Centro de Salud, Boquete's local health clinic that predominantly serves the low income, uninsured, and indigenous Ngöbe-Buglé of Boquete and its surrounding communities.  I've been working with the Licenced Psychologist there, Lucia Dutary Horna, whose primary role is to do psychological evaluations for students.  In Panama, each child who enters school (public or private) is required to have a psychological evaluation.  Additional roles of the psychologist include completing psychological evaluations for students who are not performing well and who may have educational delays, interviewing any pregnant woman receiving prenatal care at the clinic, as well as providing general counseling and therapy services to individuals and families.  It is a BIG job for just one person!

While a great deal of my time at the Centro de Salud has been spent observing the psychological evaluations, Lucia and I have done a fair amount of collaborating in which we both work with clients and share different techniques and methods of doing therapy.  I've had the opportunity to show her some of the techniques of EMDR, a specific type of therapy used to treat clients having symptoms of anxiety and/or depression as a result of having experienced some form of trauma or disturbing event in their lives.  Lucia was familiar with this form of treatment and was eager to learn more about it.  Of course, working at the Centro de Salud has also allowed me to work on my Spanish language skills, which continues to be (and I think always will) a work in progress...  

I've learned so much during the past 3 months, and it's been fascinating to look at some of the cultural differences between clinical issues in the United States verses those here in Panama.  Most of the clients seen in the Centro de Salud have very few resources.   Often there are multiple families members living under one roof, running water and the toilet is located outside of the house as opposed to the inside, and some families are living on a dirt floor.  Many of the adults have not completed school past the 2nd grade and are not proficient in reading and writing.  As one can imagine, all of these variables impact the situation at hand.

Licenciada Lucia Dutary Horna at Boquete's Centro de Salud is intelligent, hardworking, knowledgeable, and kind.  She has years of experience working as a psychologist and supplements her work at the Centro de Salud by teaching psychology classes at a University.  Without a doubt, having the opportunity to work with her has been and eye-opening experience and definitely one of the highlights of my time here in Panama.

Many Panamanians receive their healthcare at Boquete's Centro de Salud.

Patients line up at 7am each morning to be seen at Boquete's Centro de Salud.  After waiting in line and checking in, they sit in the waiting room, often for several hours, waiting to be seen.  A visit to the health center can be a full-day event.  Many of the Ngöbe-Buglé indigenous, often with kids in tow,  walk over an hour to get to the health center.