The first hos
pital
the Trust visited was Pátárlagele,
which lies about 18 miles northwest of Buzáu. I took along Simon
as co-driver and helper. The hospital was in a small town in the
mountains with 
seven
dispensaries in the surrounding villages. We stayed in one of the wards
and had most of our meals in the directors office, along with the
director. We had two translators, one a pharmacist called Dragus and the
other was a doctor called Manuela from one of the dispensaries high up
in the mountains.
The
hospital was a general one with medical, surgical, paediatrics,
obstetrics, pharmacy and laboratories. Like many of the hospitals in România
the departments are found in different buildings on the site. It is
strange to see patients walking about in their pajamas during the day
and evening. It can be so hot out there that many of them sit outside
late into the evening. It is usual for the mothers of sick children to
stay in the hospital as well, and help with small jobs around the wards.
It was difficult for the director and staff to understand why we
were helping them for no reward. After fifty years of communism very few
people will do anything for nothing. They were very suspicious of us at
first, but when the realized, after a few days, that we wanted nothing
in return for our help they became much more friendly and trusting. The
Trust made many friends there and
were due to return on our next trip to see that everything was all
right.
We
left the hospital electrician and his helpers to fit the lights
themselves while the Trust went
round the dispensaries to fit their lights. These dispensaries come in
many shapes and sizes, and conditions. Some are clean and well looked
after even though they do not have enough medicines or equipment. We
visited the dispensary at Colti, where our translator Manuela works.
This is an isolated village up a difficult mountain road. The
dispensary has no running water and the toilet is an earth closet in the
back. Simon was shocked when he went to use it. In the summer it is very
hot, and the toilet was filled with flies. In the winter it goes down to
-20 C with several feet of snow, which also makes it uncomfortable to
use. Manuela lives at the dispensary as she has no transport and the bus
only runs twice. Because of the communists the village people don't like
anybody in authority, leaving Manuela on her own for most of the time.
Panatau was next to the town and was easier for the
doctor, as he did not have to stay at the dispensary. His name was
Christian and spoke a little English. 
This
was the most enjoyable part of the trip, meeting the different doctors
and nurses, which they call medical assistants, and many of the
patients. It was difficult to arrange visits to the dispensaries as the
doctors are only there until 2:00 or 3:00 pm. Sometimes the dispensaries
were closed, even though we had arranged to be there. It would appear
that there are many unsaid sayings in România, such as, do not do
today what you can do tomorrow, and next week is even better. I had
already experienced the problem of time, working with the other group in
România, many simple jobs took ten times longer to do than they
would in England.
The Trust also
helped several schools in the area with items collected before the trip.
On this trip we came across the smallest school I have ever seen (see
picture on Hospitals page). On the last evening before we left, the
hospital gave us a seven course dinner with lots of drink, wine, beer
and tuica, a traditional Romanian drink. We asked them not to give us
anything special but they told us it was traditional to offer something
in return, and it would have been an insult not to accept.
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