Centro de Salud, Xoxocotlan

I spent my first week in the Centro de Salud at Xoxo (aka Clinic), which is about a 20mn ride from the Centro (Downtown). Luckily one of the teachers at Becari (the language school CFHI works with) went with me the day before I was to start because, if not, I would be lost with the bus system. Let me tell you how their buses work. First, it’s quite difficult to tell whether a stop even is a stop because only a few have any type of sign. While waiting at said stop, if you don’t wave at it, the bus won’t stop for you. But how do you know if it's the bus you want? Multiple location names are scribbled on the windshield (or sometimes all yelled out by someone standing by the bus door). So, somehow you have to read the different stop names on the windshield of the bus to decide if it’s the bus you need in the split second before it drives past you. Then when you’re on the bus, the only way to signal that you want to get off is by a button next to the door in the back (in other words, if you’re sitting in the middle you need to get up and walk to the back with plenty of time to spare).  But you can’t know when you’re getting off because it’s not announced! So it’s a gigantic, fun guessing game. All that being said, surprisingly, I got used to it pretty easily. And luckily, people here are very nice and will help make sure you get off the bus in time.

Back to the clinic. The Centros de Salud are public doctor offices mostly attended by the population covered by Seguro Popular which is their universal healthcare for low-income populations. My favorite thing was the variety of medical issues I saw. That being said, the majority were pregnant women. What shocked me was seeing teenagers pregnant with their second or third child, which meant that by the end of the first week I had memorized my preceptor’s “have you thought about birth control?” speech. My preceptor's approach on issues like birth control or chronic diseases like diabetes, for example, showed me how important the reinforcement of patient education was here.

While my preceptor was very nice, my role was a bit too observant for my own liking. I understood that my Spanish wasn’t the best so there was only so much I could do, but she was moving at an intense speed (probably because of the high volume of patients) that made it difficult for me to participate even if I tried. Nonetheless, whenever I asked any questions she made to sure to answer. I hoped I would be a bit more helpful the next week.