Centro de Salud 33

As mentioned in my Study Abroad section, my internship was one of the most significant portions of my study abroad experience. I worked with another student from the Clemson group at Centro de Salud 33 on the outskirts of Cordoba. My internship experience was different from what I expected it to be. I worked in a small, rural area with multiple house-like buildings that had been transformed into medical facilities. The semicircle of all the buildings consisted of a triage building, a building for women’s health, a building for recovering addicts, and even a building that housed children who were being rehomed. I learned a lot through this experience about what health looks like in another country. Argentina is not considered a low or middle-income country, but because of its history, its health system is very different from ours, and its health concerns vary. 

I worked administratively at Centro de Salud 33, so I could see the various aspects of health tackled through the public health clinic. One of the biggest standouts from my time at my internship was how Argentina takes fitness very seriously, specifically when it comes to social determinants of health. The public health clinic provides free services of all kinds to Argentine citizens, focusing on their physical health, like illness, and the other aspects of health, like food for children, by giving out formula to in-need mothers. 

I felt particularly proud that I could digitize even some of the documents and paperwork at the health clinic because the most significant aspect the health clinic lacks is organization. But I learned a lot more from being there and observing the differences in health systems up close.