Today we took a trip to our first volunteer site in Bangkok. The Mahasawat Health Promotion Hospital is conveniently located close to the villages and provides a variety of services to the community. We met the chief board director who helps run these organizations and all the volunteers, nurses, and professionals involved. This hospital focuses on preventative care in communicable and noncommunicable diseases. The volunteers provide home health care for patients with NCDs such as diabetes and hypertension and school visits to administer vaccines. Through proper education about nutrition and exercise, the hospital staff is able to guide their patients to make the right choices in order to prevent NCDs. Finally, the Thailand healthcare system is very complex and consists of five different levels/departments. The National Ministry of Public Health provides services on a regional, district, sub-district, and village level. The most important and interesting thing about this country is that the government provides health insurance for everyone, regardless of one’s occupation or financial status. Overall I am very impressed by how truly united Thai people are and the amount of good they do for one another.
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