In the time I have been doing my internship so I have learned so much. With my internship supervisor, Adrian, I assist with community exercise classes where I see his huge impact in the community. These people have chosen to attend his free workout sessions to take control of their health. While instructing the exercise sessions he also assists people with injuries to work safely around those. He notes each person's physical condition and tries to talk with them before, during and after the sessions which shows the amount of passion he has for not only his job but for the community. It was really helpful and inspiring to watch this as a student of occupational therapy, especially knowing it was free and accessible to the whole community. This internship has been teaching me not only about the healthcare system in Costa Rica (for my public health studies) but strategies to involve the community while using my occupational therapy knowledge.
As a future occupational therapist we are constantly going to be working interprofessionally so it has also been interesting to see how other professions in healthcare work here. I really loved getting to experience different areas of EBIAS everyday because I was always learning something new. In the pharmacy I never would've expected to be communicating with patients in Spanish and giving them their medicine correctly on my own. I never would have imagined myself learning how to take out stitches until I worked with the enfemera (nurse assistant). I never would have learned all the new Spanish vocabulary until the medica (doctor) helped me learn.
I was also able to work with the ATAPS here which is unique to Costa Rica.
