HCA Hospital

This morning, we started early by traveling to the London Bridge HCA hospital. This establishment is in the private health sector of the UK, differing from Chelsea and Westminster, which are operated by the NHS. When we arrived at the hospital, we went straight to a boardroom that was filled with a lavish breakfast and many nurses and staff. A woman gave a presentation about how the hospital operates and HCA’s company, and after that, I knew they were trying to recruit us. Many staff members came up to me trying to "pitch" the benefits of working at their company, and when I told them I was a speech pathology major, they acted disinterested. After many awkward encounters, we went to tour the first hospital. This place was beautiful and differed a lot from the NHS. The rooms were much larger, and there were more beds to accommodate. I was shocked that not every nurse would choose to work for a private company until I learned that this hospital is for profit. This means they prioritize making money, and the money produced is not required to go directly back into the hospital. I feel like working in that environment would be very frustrating, and I would personally rather make a little less money and provide quality care. It seems in private for-profit hospitals, healthcare is more of a business and not a right and necessity like the NHS.

After touring London Bridge, we moved to their outpatient and diagnostic services building. In the building, they had physiotherapy, OT, SLP, and cancer diagnostic services. What I found the most interesting was their one-stop breast cancer clinic. If you have any sort of concern, you can make an appointment, receive a mammogram, and get results the same day. In the states, mammogram results can take weeks to receive back, which can be frustrating and stressful. Finally, we stopped by the Harley Street Clinic, where Florence Nightingale worked as a nurse. This hospital looked like a cottage on the outside, and then once you walked in, it was a fully operating and packed hospital. I asked the lady guiding us how many SLPs were on staff, and there are currently only three for all inpatient and outpatient clients. I cannot imagine their workload and the amount of paperwork they have to do. The lack of SLPs is a universal problem, but in the US, it is not this severe. Touring these facilities was a wonderful experience and broadened my knowledge

The first photo is a chemo therapy chair in the hospital. Second photo is of the outpaitent facillity. The last photo is the mammogram machine also in the outpaitent facillity.

Theater In London!!

In my introductory paragraph, I mentioned my love for musical theater. I have grown up attending shows my whole life and have seen at least twenty productions on Broadway. This passion led me to see at least one show in London. In the city, you can purchase reduced-cost tickets on the same day as the show from an app called “Today’s Tix.” On the second night here, my flatmates and I scrolled through the shows and came across Heathers. Although I had only seen the movie and listened to the soundtrack, I had been dying to see it live and in person. We quickly bought a ticket for about forty pounds and went to the theater in Soho the next day. It was quaint, and every seat in the house had a stunning view of the stage. The show was about two and a half hours long, but it went by quickly. Every character was extraordinarily talented and had an insane vocal range. The two leading roles, Veronica and JD, had the most believable chemistry. It felt like they were indeed in love, and I was watching a story unfold in front of my eyes. Heathers has become one of my new favorites from all the shows I have seen. As I was walking out of the theater, I saw the girl who played Martha Dumptruck and had to take a picture with her! In my opinion, the West End is comparable to Broadway, and the pricing is much more reasonable. Another production we got to attend was Wicked. I have seen it countless times, and it never gets old. I do think Broadway’s cast had better singers, and their choreography was more difficult, but it has been running longer than this production. Even though this trip is about to come to an end, I am still not done with my theater journey. On Monday, I am going to see the Royal Ballet Company perform Swan Lake! This has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl, and I cannot wait!

First photo is my flat mates and I in front of the theatre. The second photo is of Martha Dumbtruck and I. The last photo is the actors taking their final bow.

Old Operating Theatre

Today we began touring an old operating theatre. No, it is not a theatre where they show musicals or plays, but actually where they used to perform surgeries. Our lovely guide gave us a full demonstration and description of the hospital and how surgeries used to be performed. She explained to us that back in the early 1800s, no anesthetics were being used; therefore, all surgeries were conducted when the patients were awake. She went into depth about how an amputation was done by having Maritza volunteer to be a patient. As seen in the photo below, her head is propped up while on the operating table. That is not because of comfortability, but to make sure the patient was still alive. Due to the gruesomeness and likelihood that the operation would work, surgeries were often the last resort to save one's life. Personally, I think I would rather pass away peacefully than maybe survive and constantly be in pain. There were also no sanitation procedures, and the surgeons viewed more blood on their apron as giving them a higher status. Also, all the tools they used would just be wiped off on their apron or in their mouth and then used for the next patient. Not only were the markings of blood on your apron an emblem of skill, but also how fast you could conduct the procedure. Surgeons would try to compete with each other and have their students time them with their pocket watches to see who could finish first. Little did they know, this quickness did help reduce the presence of infection. This talk made me very grateful that I was born in the time period I was with the amazing medical technology we have.

The first photo is of the demonstration of the amputation. The second photo is a replica of the bloody aprons they may have used. The third photo is of medical leeches that would suck blood off of paitents to reduce bleeding.