Time Orientation Present
Source: Spector, R. (1992). Culture, ethnicity, and nursing. In P. Potter & A. Perry (Eds.), Fundamentals of nursing (3rd ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby-Year Book. Reprinted with permission. This material was published in Potter & Perry’s Fundamentals of Nursing, Jackie Crisp and Catherine Taylor (Eds), Copyright Elsevier (2009).
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2. If the advice is not sufficient, the person may seek help from a senoria (a woman who is especially knowledgeable about the causes and treat- ment of illness).
3. If the senoria is unable to help, the person goes to a more sophisti- cated folk practitioner, an espiritista or a curandera. If the problem is “psychiatric,” a santero may be consulted. These names describe similar people—those who obtain their knowledge from spirits and treat illness according to the instructions of the spirits. Herbs, lo- tions, creams, and massage often are used.
4. If the person is still not satisfied, he or she may go to a physician. 5. If the results are not satisfactory, the person may return to a folk
practitioner. He or she may seek medical help sooner than step 4 or may go back and forth between the two systems.
Not all people from Puerto Rico use the folk system. Health care providers should remember that people who appear to have delayed seeking health care have most likely counted on curing their illness through the culturally known and well-understood folk process. Often when people disappear (or “elope”) from the established health system, they may have elected to return to the folk system. Those who elope from the larger, institutionalized medical system may visit a botanica (Figures 12–15 and 12–16). In these small botanicas, one can
Figure 12–15 A botanica in Boston, Massachusetts. There are several botanicas in the Boston metropolitan area. The botanicas are visited primarily by people from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and other Hispanics residing in the area. They sell numerous herbs and herbal preparations, amulets of all sorts, milagros, and statues of saints. A santera works in this botanica, and she is available to people to give advice and sell herbal remedies.
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purchase herbs, potents, Florida water, ointments, and incense prescribed by spiritualists. Some of these botanicas are so busy that each customer is given a number and is assisted only after the number is called (Mumford, 1973). There are countless botanicas located in one small area of New York City. A Spanish- speaking colleague and I visited a botanica in Boston that was similar to a phar- macy. The owner explained the various remedies that were for sale. We were allowed to purchase only a few items because we did not have a spiritualist’s prescription for herbs. The store also sold amulets, candles, religious statues, cards, medals, and relics.
A limited number of santeros place advertisements in local Spanish daily newspapers. Some of the more industrious ones distribute flyers in the New York City subways. Others maintain a low profile, and patients visit them be- cause of their well-established reputations.