While most students found great relief in returning home over break, the Preprofessional Society for Health Careers of Alpha Epsilon Delta immersed themselves in a new culture while assisting at clinics all over the Dominican Republic.
Twenty-five students flew abroad from Dec. 13 to 20 in the hope of finding new experiences and opportunities to give back to the less fortunate.
“The purpose of this trip is to provide free medical care to areas in the D.R. with barriers to accessing healthcare. We are often the only healthcare the people in these barrios receive,” Sasha Collins, genomics and molecular genetics senior and the group leader said.
The team broke up into even smaller groups before going to different barrios, which are communities in the Dominican Republic, for clinical work. The first of the four groups is triage, which Collins said takes patient medical history.
The next group is shadowing. Students shadow the doctors to familiarize themselves with parasites and skin infections unique to the country. Collins said patients are treated for fresh wounds and infected bites and are introduced to health issues prevalent in that area.
The clinics draw large crowds which is why the third group, crowd control, is vital. Collins said the team uses that time to talk to patients in line and educate them about health.
The final group was pharmacy, where patients bring their prescription slips to be filled and labeled in Spanish with directions on how to take them. Each prescription is checked by a nurse and translator to explain to the patient how to take the medication.
Each day began at 6:45 a.m. for breakfast and didn’t end until around midday. They attended to an average of 150 patients each workday. The team traveled up to 2 hours from their base in San Juan de la Maguana to get to each barrio.
The language barrier did act as a hurdle for the team.
“A majority of us did not know or were not fluent in Spanish, and yes, sometimes there was a barrier in communicating with people, but we were lucky enough to have helpful doctors and translators that both translated and taught us the language,” neuroscience and human biology senior Megha Patel said.
Students abroad soon learn that the thing that makes or breaks a trip is the atmosphere. Whether or not the people of each country welcome newcomers with open arms can change the entire experience. Luckily for these students, the people of the Dominican Republic were friendly beyond belief.
“The atmosphere in the Dominican Republic is one of the reasons I have gone back three times. I absolutely love it,” human biology senior Lauren Cooke said.
