Back to My Account from the Vargas Hospital (a tour)

I had lost track of how long it had been since I last posted from my account. It's been more than six months! 😱

I had been having second thoughts about what I had been doing in my blog, but the main reason for my absence had been work. I felt depressed at the end of last year and then starting January, everything escalating into dealing with lots of issues and having to work practically seven days a week.

I did not have time to reconsider the direction my blog should follow. Then, @manujune got sick and our lives changed in a heartbeat.

We have been living in a hospital room for almost a month now. Ironically, the hospital was named after one of the most important physicians/scientists/politicians in Venezuelan history, Dr José María Vargas Ponce (1786-1854). My wife's last name is Vargas, so we have been joking about the special treatment.

This hospital has a rich history, more than 130 years of it. It was the first university hospital in Caracas and has remained one of the most important in terms of academic training.

The hospital is a complex set of buildings that combine independent services or institutions that are somehow connected or collaborate among them. If you stand in front of the old building, you have the Jacinto Convit biomedicine instituto to the right.

To the left the modern building

If you look behind, you will see one of the many old buildings of the San Jose of Cotiza barrio, which grew around the hospital.

Inside the old building you will find a most needed map. If you do not know your way around you can spend hours lost in this maze.

This is for me one of the most beautiful areas of the hospital.

It must have been a sight to see back in the day.

Unfortunately, the deterioration of the infrastructure is hard to hide.

I walk down these stairs every morning to get our breakfast. The rails look like a century old.

It's very common to see lots of students having their first clases in the hospital. The cats, who I think outnumber the number of patients, will have a post of their own.
The one sleeping behind the group of students was very upset and refused to move. I have seen him best the hell out of every other cat in the neighborhood. Half his tale is gone and I can understand why he is so grumpy.

These halls are usually full of medical personnel and patients, but I took these pictures on a weekend and it looked like a haunted house.

Some efforts have been made to modernize the old wings, but the result has not been exactly eye pleasing. Not all areas have air conditioners.

Some really old doors, reminders of the elegant old hospital.

Some carelessly installed wires, reminders of how how inelegant modern technology can be.

Some hidden corners look like dumpsters.

And one wonders how something so grand was left to time's cruel devices.

I hope some day this place is given to experts to recover it's magnificence and former glory.

It would be a pity to see so much history crumble.

So much symmetry disappear

Patients and doctors must have felt they were in a temple when all these columns looked strong and new.

Now, I am guessing they have mixed feelings about the excitement of becoming doctors or nurses and the place where they are supposed to provide their services and grow professionally.

The same lacks we see on the halls and walls, they experience in their dealings with patients.

We've talked to doctors and nurses and they all agree that the scarcity of doctors and nurses, despite all the new programs design to cover the demand is making their work and the patients' conditions unbearable.

It's hard for any nurse or doctor to take care of dozens of patients on any given day. Nights are even harder and any patient here will tell you stories of running around trying to find a nurse to help their patients when needed.

The chaos around the hospital adds additional issues to the ordeals patients and medical personnel deal with on a daily basis.

I think I insalubrity/uncleanliness is the main problem.

Stray animals and homeless people have made the hospital and it's surroundings their home.

The daily chaos of patients, especially elders, spending the night outside the hospital competing for a spot for a medical consultations is only matched for another kind of chaos, a more dangerous one:

Their inability to handle wastes!

A complex crisis that has reached even the best public hospitals in the country threatens the health of patients, relatives and medical personnel. Every day is a challenge for all, but the poorest pay the highest price. Hopefully, this situation will improve in the near future...for everyone's sake!