A Fulfilling Immersion Experience
Submitted by blondebomber on 06/30/2008 05:21 PM
- Category: English
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A Fulfilling Immersion Experience
Poverty is rampant in the Philippines. It is not surprising to say that each one of us has his own share of experiences in terms of his dealings with the poor, or their [the poor] dealings with him. Everyday we see the poor wherever we go in streets, in school, in the Church, in the malls, even in our neighborhood. They are members of the society where we live, thus, they have become an unconscious part of our lives. Eventually, we become immune in seeing them. It becomes too comforting to act indifferently. In thinking rationally, we end up judging them, blaming their deficiency on their laziness and incompetence.
I used to act indifferently and think judgmentally when it comes to dealing with the poor. These changed when I had my first immersion in February 2003. The venue was in PGH Pediatric Ward. I had to complete twelve hours of labor trials program in three visits. The experience required two things: interaction with a patient or with his guardian and finishing the tasks given to us by the head nurse. This was my experience of a poor person.
I got the chance to interact with a patient named Joselito. He was sitting on a bed, large enough to fit his tiny body, writing something in his notebook. Tubes were inserted in his arms and nose. His mother was seated on a chair beside his bed. There were other patients in the room, a typical set up of a hospital ward. The ward was huge enough to accommodate a good number of patients. But contrary to what I had in mind before entering the ward, there was only one patient occupying a bed (1:1 patient-bed ratio) and the ward was not similar to an emergency room where doctors and nurses rush around, almost in a panicked manner. Big windows lined up the wall to let the wind circulate in the room because the ward, obviously, was not air-conditioned. Joselito's personal things such as bags, medicine/drug kit and water bottle were piled up on a table beside his bed.
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