Hospital Vozandes del Oriente

Many of you are probably wondering, “What kinds of things do you do there?” Well, yesterday, I learned a bit more about the hospital itself. Hospital Vozandes del Oriente (HVO) is a 40-bed primary care hospital. It’s one of two hospitals run by HCJB World Radio Inc. As a primary care hospital, we have inpatient services, emergency services, and general consult. I’m helping out in all of those areas, but primarily in the ER. We see different people from all over.

As a hospital, we’re probably the best in the area. There aren’t many places you can go and receive this kind of treatment. We’re also closely tied to the Quito hospital (HVQ), which can accept all kinds of patients. Although we’re good comparatively, we still don’t have lots of the new modern equipment for the more serious cases. If we need to, we can fly patients to Quito for better, more advanced treatment.

Almost all the doctors here are missionary doctors who have come to serve this people. We’re able to offer care for very reasonable prices. To see the doctor here, it’s about $3-$4. An X-Ray is about $8. A day in inpatient starts at around $20, with additional costs for things like IV’s making a general day about $40. Compared to the U.S., that’s very reasonable. However, if patients can’t pay in dollars, we still try to get them to pay something, somehow, so they feel that kind of responsibility. I just learned that we have a gift shop where people can exchange goods for care. There are several handmade items. I think they can also bring other things like produce to pay for their care. It’s really great to be able to bless these people in this way.