With somewhat less comedy, the esprit de corps continues upstairs, at the infectious disease clinic. The dozen chairs churn out weary parents and restless kids, a total of 100 to 200 patients daily for two or three nurses. For lack of space, the tuberculosis clinic and the department's pharmacy are housed at another facility. One of the nurses comes out to file cards and wrestles with a drawer that won't follow its runners back into place. The ceiling tiles are soot-stained.
Privacy is an issue here, too.
In the exam room, two nurses see patients with just a cubicle partition between them. Generally, says Joan McMahon, the immunization clinic head, this isn't a problem because people aren't shy about a kid needing a tetanus booster. And that draws more attention to you. Between the STD clinic below and the booster shots above, two social workers counsel clients about HIV and AIDS on the clinic's second floor. But one social worker's office can be reached only by going through the other's, potentially embarrassing the client in the first room.