Arenal: Medical Spanish Program

Contact: Dr. Sergio Arias Bonilla -
Dr. Arias graduated from the Universidad lntemacional de las Americas. His professional experience has been in Hospital Monsenor Sanabria and Clinica de Chacarita. Currently Dr. Arias has opened his own office "Sanar Consultores", giving private consultations to the community of La Fortuna and surrounding areas.

The following are the extracurricular activities for AEC Spanish Institute- Arenal' s Medical program.

Role Play: Students and teacher do a monthly visit to host families that work for the school. The objective of the visits are to improve the health education of these families and for them to identify the most common diseases and the importance of the medical consultation and its follow up.

Medical Seminars: These seminars are normally given by the teacher in charge of the program, Dr. Arias. The duration of this activity is of approximately an hour and 20 minutes. The objective of the seminars is to 'teach the student the most common diseases that a Latin American citizen will suffer in the United States. Also students will be taught the different questions that will help them during an interview with one of their Latin patient.

Visit to Dr. Arias office Sanar Consultores: This visit has a duration of approximately 1 hour and its objective is for the student to observe the doctor- patient relationship and to learn more about private healthcare in Costa Rica.

Visit to EBAIS de Los Angeles: These visits have a duration of approximately I hour. Students in this extracurricular activity will give a written questionnaire to patients attending the clinic (the questionnaire will be provided by the school). Students will be able to observe the doctor-patient relationship during the consultation (patient must first give authorization). The EBAIS clinic is part of the Social Security System and includes Nino sano, Prenatales, medicina general, papanicolao, tec.

Visit to the orphanage "Hogar de Ninos Paniamor": During this activity students will participate in an ongoing developmental study initiated by the school that follows up on the growth, development and health of the children. Students will also educate the children about diarrhea, oral re-hydration therapy, proper use of glucometro. The children will also receive educational information about personal hygiene and healthy alimentation.

Visit to the Senior Citizen's Home "Grupo Adulto Mayor": AEC Spanish Institute medical students visiting the home with find out about the different illness that the patients in the home suffer from. They are instructed on the different treatments as well as ways to prevent them. These visits are supervised by the teacher in charge.

Study Medical Spanish in other Costa Rican Locations.