Day 10: June 19, 2007. Mall Madness

We managed to do a lot of good interviews with nurses today. Started out at a fairly high-traffic vaccination center that had 5 nurses working at a time. We broke up into two groups so we could do 2 at a time. Without officially deciding this, we seem to have come up with a standard split of the group when we need it… Mike goes with Azucena while Sapun and I go with our local translator. I think this is because Mike and Azucena have a limited tolerance for mine and Sapun’s sometimes-random curiosity when it comes to questions we ask. We’re more likely to do random things like get an “area manager” (a pretty high-level position) to practice training a “coordinator of programs” on one of our devices. Or get a tour of the local incinerator. We get a kick out of stuff like that.

We also went out to a very rural area which was great to see. Not quite the same as visiting small town Iowa (which I also very much enjoy). A lot of very small somewhat-rundown houses surrounded by sugar cane and people sitting outside in the sun. And one small hospital/clinic with a single doctor and a single nurse that work there. The nurse was nice enough to let us interview her (the area manager had called ahead). I’ve actually been pretty impressed with how well the vaccination centers we’ve been to have been maintained and stocked with sufficient supplies, even this one. They even have plenty of the pretty little yellow safety boxes for disposing of needles. I wonder if it’s like this farther away from Santo Domingo (we’re only ~30 minutes away). If only we had the time… and could convince Mike to drive again in this country.

We had lunch today at a mall foodcourt and thought it was the best thing ever. The mall was a lot like one you’d find in the US. I found it funny (though not unexpected) that we’d be so stoked to be eating at a mall. It’s like somebody from Alabama coming to San Francisco for a while and quickly growing tired of fancy pants green food options and running for a Denny’s (which I also very much enjoy). Anyway, I enjoyed my taco bell-esque burrito.

-Rich

Caption: Babies are smart