At breakfast, everyone was super excited because we got to sleep in – a whole extra 45 minutes. Everyone met downstairs for a breakfast of pancakes or eggs before heading out.
We spent the day at Hermano Pedro, a hospital with prominent Catholic influence in much more than the name. In fact, at first glance, it looked quite a bit like a church. Inside, we found many murals and statues of Jesus or the saints, including the beautiful stained glass window pictured below.
Hermano Pedro, according to the teaching of its namesake, devotes a great amount of both its facilities and its efforts to helping the physically and mentally handicapped. On our tour, we got to meet some of the patients and Chris in particular made a new friend.
After our tour, we worked the day away on all the hospital’s problem equipment. Kyle and Ryan repaired an operating room light that had been rewired to bypass a fuse, as well as buying some replacement fuses from a local electronics store to donate to the hospital. Joseph worked on a SAG saw, providing the hospital with a fully functioning piece of equipment by day’s end. Garret diagnosed problems with fiber optic light supplies and left the hospital with a list of parts to order.
After lunch, we took a short break. Some people walked across the square to see the church in which our translator will be getting married later this month. Some of us simply enjoyed the beautiful weather in the park with some helado delicioso (delicious ice cream).
On our way back into the hospital after our break, guess who we met??
…Unless you have been talking to someone on our trip, you were probably wrong. It was Hunter Campbell “Patch” Adams. The real-life person that Robin Williams played in the movie. When we asked if we could take a picture with him, he said that he would consent only if we all picked our nose.
We got back to work after our break. This is apparently a picture of Garrett teaching Dr. P how it is done…
After leaving the hospital, we said good bye to our translator friends, Betsy and Elisa. I think all of our girls have already friended them on facebook.
No comments:
Post a Comment