For those of you wondering what a large, public hospital in rural Vietnam looks like, here it is. Out of respect for privacy, I did not take pictures of patients or their family members who were not involved in our study. I also did not take pictures of patients without their permission. Nearly every room we walked by each morning was completely packed with patients' beds, some chronically ill patients lay on the floor with only a straw mat. Every patient has a family member sitting next to them, fanning them when they roll over to one side. Meals are had on the hospital floor. Clothes are washed by hand in gray water and hung to dry in the hallways. When I first entered this hospital, I told Audrey it reminded me of a war hospital from 50s, barely above water trying to care for all of the causalities of a poverty-stricken healthcare system. Patients do not come to the hospital until they are knocking on deaths door (the costs are too high to come in any earlier), the hospital is understaffed and unequipped, and Scaudrey is in the middle of it all.
-Scott
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| Old school EKG (still in use) |
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| Doctors office |
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| Entrance to the Neurology ward |
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| Lunch break = department closed |
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| Toiletry shelf |
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| What color was mine again? |
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| Neurology crew |
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| A moderately filled room |
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| A familiar face |
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| Lunchtime |
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| Natural drying machine, but sterile? |
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| The gates leaving our department |
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| A random hallway |
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| A common sight |
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| Hospital bathroom. Yes, that's a bathtub. |
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| Drying machine |
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| A nice green space |
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| Loitering family members |
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| Hospital hallways |
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| Our stroke team |
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| Sometimes it felt like a prison |
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| Moisture and decay |
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| On a sidewalk next to the hospital |
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| Empty medicine bottles |
Zoonotic bacterial and viral infections are most common cases of CNS infections in adults and children in Vietnam. All nations have their individual concerns when concerning the new Super Bugs surfacing between nations. International travel must be regulated when pertaining to infectious contagious individuals. Cross contamination between nations should always be avoided. We want the sick to get better before ones international travel in order to protect themselves and the passengers on flight in which all share one airplane.
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