A couple of weeks ago I spent a Monday at the General Hospital in Grenada (It’s the building in the picture above). Dr. Ameci, who I had been shadowing previously, worked at a private hospital in Grenada. Of course at the private hospital the standards are better, equipment is more professional and everything runs a bit more smoothly. Therefore I was curious to see what the public/general hospital was like. I was put in contact with a surgeon who worked at the General Hospital and was allowed to shadow him for a day.

Quite the view from the hospital! 

As I approached the hospital and stepped inside the reception area (at 7 am!!! Early start for surgeons!) I was a little bit confused whether this was a hospital or an abandoned building, haha. I’ve seen a lot of primitive and things in-not-so-great-state during my travels, but the General Hospital did initially give me a bit of a shock.

I met Dr. Campritus who I was shadowing for the day and I put my scrubs on and was ready to observe some surgeries! Everything around me was very simple, very basic, and very ‘old-school’. The beds were almost falling apart, everything is done by hand, there were cracks in the floor… But after I saw the first surgery I saw that those things weren’t really an issue – everything worked just fine. It was actually quite strange, because by the end of the day the hospital didn’t seem as simple and basic as when I arrived. Although it looked older and more primitive than what I was used to, none of those had any implications on the surgeries themselves.

I saw about 6 surgeries in total – busy day! The surgeries I saw included:

• Umbilical hernia repair
• Thyroidectomy (removal of half a thyroid)
• Appendicitis (removal of appendix)
• Lumpectomy of a benign tumor  (Benign breast tumor removal)
• Lumpectomy of a malignant tumor (malignant breast tumor removal)

It was a long day in the operating theaters, but very very interesting. I got to stand just up close to the patients, right next to the surgeon and he was very good at explaining the procedures. Surgery is definitely something that would interest me in the future, but first – get into med school, haha!

(The pictures below might be a little too much for some people – just beware…! 🙂 )

Here’s the thyroidectomy procedure! 

And here’s half a thyroid!! 

I’m very glad I’ve gotten the opportunity to do as much medical shadowing as I have done here in Grenada. It’s been a really great experience that I know will benefit me in the future.

The plan for my Thursday is:

1. Meet 3 students who are traveling from the UK with the Jason Roberts Foundation. They have been involved in a project and were the final candidates who got to travel to Grenada and are going to help out at a special needs school.
2. Beach Workout!
3. Head over to the Children’s Home for a couple of hours
4. 1 hour of yoga
5. Meet up with friends! On Thursday there is a Salsa Night at one of the restaurants – we thought we would check it out 🙂

Busy and fun day ahead! I better get going 🙂