WeekEND Review

Our first week of clinical rotations ended without incident. All five of us are at GF Jooste Hospital in the Cape Flats area. This is a public hospital (meaning that you don't need insurance to be seen here), as well as a district hospital that serves a population of nearly 2 million people who are primarily from the townships. The healthcare system in South Africa, as I understand it so far, is a three-tiered system beginning at the bottom with community hospitals. The community hospitals act like a primary care offices, operating eight hours a day Monday through Friday. If the medical condition cannot be cared for in this setting, the patient is referred to a district hospital for treatment. Then if the condition requires specialized treatment, a referral is made to a tertiary hospital that has more resources at hand.

Shanley and I have both spent our first week at GF Jooste in the Casualty Department, which is equivalent to an Emergency Room setting. Depending on how busy Casualty is, we also help over in the See-&-Treat Department, which operates like an outpatient primary care facility. In the first week alone, I have learned a lot! I did my first blood draw today (success!), I’ve assisted with two lumbar punctures, performed a couple of EKGs, and am learning to read X-rays better each day. The most prominent health concerns facing the providers at GF Jooste are: HIV/AIDs, TB, and TIK (meth use).

At the end of clinic week, we spent most of the weekend together as a group. It was Erin’s last weekend in Cape Town and so we did the two things she hadn’t yet done: visit Robben Island and climb Table Mountain. Both activities require decent weather, and we lucked-out with perfect conditions the full weekend.

First stop was Robben Island which is where Nelson Mandela and other political offenders were imprisoned during Apartheid. The prison is no longer operational, but tours by ex-prisoners are part of the experience. Even within the prison setting, “black” and “coloured” prisoners were subject to marginalized living conditions/treatment.

Shanley & Me standing on Robben Island with Table Mountain in the background

Our second adventure was climbing Table Mountain, which is named for its plateau-like top; when there is cloud coverage over the mountain, the locals call it the “table-cloth.” The hike took the group about 2.5 hours at a pretty relaxed pace, but not without some extreme upward climbing. It’s only about 3,500 feet to the top (smaller than Mount Si) and there is a cable-car that runs service from the base to the top. As it turned out, we hiked to the top then rode the cable car back down. The ascending views and panoramic scenery from the top is incredible and worth the effort to see.

View from the top!