There is nothing more terrifying than your kid getting hurt. Of course I knew this already, but we are going through this horrifying experience at this very moment. I don’t want to go into much detail about why, but whoever’s wondering about it, just needs to know that our kid is stable and out of danger, he will be alright soon.
I am writing from one of the hall spaces in the Sant Joan de Deu hospital, in Barcelona. Sant Joan de Deu (SJD) is by far the most impressive hospital I’ve ever been in. It’s the closest a hospital can get to a Theme Park, and that really makes a huge difference when it’s about kids.
For a series of unrelated reasons I’ve had the chance of visiting several public hospitals in Barcelona during the last couple years, and have witnessed the impressive infrastructure we enjoy in this city. SJD, as impressive as it is, is just a tad better than some of the other public healthcare alternatives around here.
So my first take about this whole experience is how grateful I am for me and my family enjoying Spanish healthcare. I see it often dismissed as too expensive regarding taxes, but trust me: as high as taxes are, if you only use public healthcare once in your life (that one time when it really matters) you’ve already saved a ton of money on healthcare.
In Spain, my notion regarding healthcare is as follows: you should (if you can) get a private insurance for unimportant stuff, and use public healthcare for serious matters. We actually enjoy much lower private insurance prices thanks to public healthcare: private healthcare supports itself on public healthcare for certain matters, allowing companies to offer lower prices.
We don’t really need private healthcare at all, but use it for most stuff because it offers much better wait times when you need small checks, consultations and tests, but even though we have the best and most expensive possible private insurance available for our kid, as we rushed to the hospital we soon realized SJD was the one place where he would get the best medical attention. And I think we were right.
During the last 3 days we’ve spent in here, I am deeply shocked by what I’ve seen here. I realized SJD is not just a hospital: it’s a place that holds people in the worst moment of their life.
Being a parent made me realize of how innocent children are. They just don’t deserve any kind of suffering, and seeing them, hearing them through the corridors, is extremely painful. During the night you keep hearing kids screaming and crying, so scared, confused, in pain. You also see their parents worried, hoping for the best. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.
I’ve seen kids play in the game areas with a smile, while their parents follow them holding medical apparel. The elevators have colorful screens or star patterns in their ceilings so when children enter on a gurney they can see them. The emergency corridors are full of constellation patterns with lights. There’s little experiences everywhere and it matters so, so much.
At some point we heard a big clapping and celebration noise on our corridor, and looking at what’s up, I saw a group of nurses and doctors celebrating how one of the kids who was spending a long time in there left the hospital, healed.
I also saw a really young couple mourn the loss of their firstborn. It sounded like something they were expecting, because they were not in shock, and I cannot begin to imagine all the pain they have been through and still are. They were being attended by a nurse specialized in mourning fathers.
Without being here, it’s impossible to realize the amount of people that are suffering inside. For all these people I realized how the hospital makes things better for them, and how much every little detail matters.
To say that I am deeply impacted would be an understatement. We decided that whenever this is all over we’re going to donate as much as we can to the hospital, and I’m writing this hoping to make more people aware of the amazing work that is being done here.
Daniel Barca 