Hospital Infantil Fernando Velez Paiz

The Hospital Velez Paiz is the oldest hospital in Managua as it was the only one to stay standing after the earthquake of 1972. The second floor of the old section of the hospital is no longer in use but the majority of the hospital still bustles with activity. The hospital is primarily for children but also houses a maternity ward, a general emergency room, a burn unit, four operating rooms, and an ICU. This time of year (“winter”), there is a greatly increased need for the hospital. For example, the GI clinic typically has capacity to admit 30-40 children but currently has nearly 200 occupants. I did not feel comfortable taking a picture for you all to see but imagine two mothers with their children per crib and chairs spilling into the hallway to accommodate the rest.

At the hospital, my partner Kathleen and I work with a crazy technician who goes by Jonny but all of his friends call him “Pelon (Baldy)”. Fortunately, he has a great sense of humor. We are blessed with an air conditioned workshop and Jonny is incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. Today we fixed the pump motor and drive shaft on a nebulizer and then calibrated a sphygmomanometer and fixed the intake valve (it worked, and I showed off my 110 /85 mmHg). There is no shortage of work though; we were introduced to heaps and heaps of broken machinery. Lack of spare parts is clearly the biggest problem we’ve run into so far. The operating room theatre lights have less than half of the bulbs working and less than 1 in five are the correct wattage and intensity. One of the operating rooms only has a dome reflector light that uses a single ~25 watt energy saver bulb similar to the one lighting my room at my home stay. Let me know if anyone has access to some of these (of course I could find out makes/models)!