3/13/2012 We have been in Panama for several days now. We spent the first part of the trip sightseeing and traveling to our final destination of Chitre. I was so glad to start the trip off this way since I knew we would be working frequently during the following days, so it was nice to be able to relax and enjoy the country. We went as a group to see the Panama Canal and the Miraflores Locks. The Miraflores locks were incredibly crowded, but it was awe inspiring to be able to see the huge ships passing through and to learn about the rich history of the country we were visiting. After that we were able to walk around Casco Veijo and see the beautiful mixture of the old vs. new architecture and take in the culture of the city. In the afternoon we started the long drive to Chitre. In Chitre, we were assigned to a beautiful house which had 3 bedroomes. The house belonged to one of the professors at the university. I couldn't wait to get to the clinics the next day to get started helping people. Monday we woke up bright and early to get to the clinics to start our rotations. My group was assigned to the Centro de Salud de Chitre. When we walked in to the clinic it was much as I expected it to be, crowded and sparsely appointed. However, what I never expected was how different the equipment and procedures would be. Learning the equipment and procedures was further complicated by the fact that none of the nurses or patients spoke Spanish. I had an advantage over most people in the fact that I speak fairly fluent spanish. However, after several hours of translating my head began spinning and even simple procedures seemed incredibly difficult! We did vaccinations, developmental assessments, breathing treatments and pap smears at the clinic. We were all extremely excited to learn how to do pap smears since that is a skill we would never have obtained in our studies in the United States. For the most part though, I felt incredibly incompetent at the clinics in spite of having felt like a very proficient nurse in the United States. Imagine your first day at a new job, where everything seems brand new and someone is explaining everything you need to know in a different language.... In spite of this, the clinicals were an amazing experience where we learned alot about community health in panama. They focus much more on primary preventions down here which is a better way to go than in the United Statss where we tend to focus on treatments rather than preventions. Alexa Ann McIntyre