After going to the site and talking to them, we were able to identify different community problems. The first problem we identified was that there was no proper organization for the medications of the hospital. All of the medicines were stored in one room, and since there was no appropriate system, different floors didn’t know what drugs were available in the hospital and the workers had problems organizing them by expiration dates. The solution we came up with was to implement a computer system for all floors to have access to the same information. The problem was that after researching, we learned that such program already existed. This means that we would just be buying the program and implementing it into the hospital. We felt this was not enough to build our entire project, so we decided not to work on this community problem.

The second community problem we saw in our site was patient anxiety. There was patient anxiety in the area of pediatrics, in the waiting room. The reason was because there were no toys, books or activities for the children to play with for distraction. This problem could become larger later on because it could turn into anxiety disorders, especially if the kid’s situation is surgery. The solution we came up with was to donate many toys and books to the waiting room for the patients. Also, we came up with an idea to hold a coloring contest, in which the children would be given an uncolored drawing and each would color it. The one that was best colored would win and this would keep them distracted because each one would want to win. Then we realized that this wasn’t a very sustainable solution because the contest would last only for a while and the toys we donated could be stolen or broken.

Service of food was another issue in the hospital. The kitchen was located in the eighth floor, while the children interned were in the second. The problem with this was that the food would arrive cold. When researching, we learned that cold food, that’s supposed to be warm does not have the same amount of nutrients and minerals and people can actually get food poisoning from eating it. The solution we came up with was to buy something called hot plates. These are plates in which you place hot food to keep the it warm. Even so, we decided not to work on this community problem because it would not be sustainable; the plates would eventually stop working. We also said that we would not be able to interact with the kids as much as we wanted to.

The fourth, and final problem we learned about the community had to do with the day care located at the back of the hospital. Santa Clara Day Care was where the employee’s children stayed at while their parents were working. This small building at the back of the hospital works with children from the ages of one to five. The problem in this place was about a stimulation room that had not been finished because of a lack of funds. Therefore, there was no room for the small kids to move around and develop the skills of crawling or walking. When researching about the issue, we learned that a kid’s mind develops the most during the first five years of his or her life, and that a place where they can run and play is essential for their growth. We also learned that babies have a biological need and desire to learn, as well as that the parts of the brain that are not used at this age eventually die out. The more stimulating experiences that a baby experiences, affects how that person will act in the future. We also learned that the connections in the brain could increase or decrease by 25 percent depending on the stimulation of a child. For this problem we created the solution of finishing the room that had been started and at the same time, interact with the kids of the site as much as possible. We chose this community problem to work on, since we believe that it would be a sustainable solution, and we would be able to interact with the kids much more than we would with the other problems in this national hospital.