Vocational Visits in Santo Angelo

I had unfortunate luck of having my camera go haywire and so I bought a new one however missed some pictures, all instructions in adjustment are in Portuguese so will learn these words in Portuguese quickly. My host Bacilla took me to a nursing home facility where she volunteers as a cardiologist. There are three of them in town and they are not required to pay to stay in these facilities. When looking at some of the activities they hold for residents, accordion music, cakes and picnics outside are part of the entertainment. It takes many caring people and volunteers to help serve the residents and food donations and health donations are important. We also went to the office of my host family who are both doctors, Bacilla's husband Josef is a gastrointestologist and also does gastric bypasses which have been performed in Brazil for about the last 10 years as compared with the United States has been performing for 20 years. Our interpreter Marlo took me to a funeraria (funeral home) where I was able to ask many questions and the director also had some interesting questions. In Brazil most burials are within 24 hours and so there is very little embalming. Cremation is not common as many funeral homes do not have a crematorium. A mausoleum cost is approximately $15,000, where as a marble marker and with a long slab is about $2,500. Marble I believe is very plentiful here and this funeral home in Santo Angelo also gets the marble unfinished and puts finish on themselves. Fascinating day! Unfortunately, our team leader, Ann, took a tumble and bruised her head. At Ann's expense I was able to see how they did MRIs in Brazil and referral and immediate care take place. Thank God, it came out ok with no broken bones and no damage to the brain, just very harsh bleeding under her eyelids. Hoping the healing comes fast for Ann, she has been able to find humor in it and really coping very well considering how traumatic it must have been for her. I'll let her tell anything else. Tomorrow we visit a grade school, college and hospital. Ta Ta for Now!