This is week we went to the mental health institution where we learned about the different services offered to individuals with mental conditions or dealing with substance abuse. This institution houses 21 patients and provides them with activities to incorporate them back into the community. Only 5 of those patients count with family support, which I believe is a great barrier for their rehabilitation back into society. These individuals make different handcrafts as part of occupational therapy and sell them to buy more materials; I was able to buy a painting of a mother feeding her child as an angel watches over them. This painting was made by an individual diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder; I had the privilege to meet her and she signed her piece of art for me. This really meant a lot, she was so happy to sign it, especially after one of the nurses told her “they are taking your painting to the US.”
Today I saw a baby boy being born. That was quiet the experience!! It was a very beautiful moment and at the same time very painful. The baby was 37 weeks and had some breathing problems; the mother was in tremendous amount of pain because her placenta broke within her and the doctor had to scrape it out. I have never seen anything as painful and disturbing as this; it made me think twice about having children in the future.
Overall, the mental health clinic and the obstetrician clinic were wonderful experiences and gave me the opportunity to see how Panama handles these subjects. It is a sweet-and-sour feeling to see how happy a mother can be with so much physical pain and to see how a simple gesture like buying a painting can mean so much to a person and at the same time see how society rejects this artist.
No comments:
Post a Comment