Imagine being miles away from home in a country without your native language, without many technological advances, and where communities are plagued by otherwise avoidable diseases. This was my first impression of the small communities in Guatemala that I visited as part of a volunteer medical group. The lack of medical care, education, and resources put these village members into turmoil. Parasites, infections, and nutritional deficiencies needlessly took the lives of natives. Access to adequate healthcare and education could have easily prevented this situation.
Although these small, underserved communities received a large part of the treatment they needed through the volunteer medical team, much of the health distress could have been prevented with health education. Teaching the ways of preventative medicine was a large part of what I did as a volunteer, but coupled with tools such as consultation, pharmaceuticals, and compassion (an extremely large part of medicine which often gets
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I can still remember my first patient in detail although the event was over a year ago. A lady, just past childbearing age, had walked in and with the help of a translator I introduced myself and began taking her patient history. I asked when she had last visited a physician (it had been several years) and learned that she had walked 13 miles one way to get to our clinic. Hearing her answers to what many so often take for granted in the United States was heartbreaking. She described the gastrointestinal symptoms that prompted her to seek medical attention and we concluded that she had intestinal parasites. We prescribed medication and a treatment regimen for which she was so very grateful. Her problem was small compared to the pneumonia, progressive disease, and cancers that I saw during the rest of the work, but her story touched me so deeply. I knew then, without a doubt, that I wanted and needed to become a
As Paul Farmer pursues to bring health care to impoverished nations, he builds the health care systems, is able to provide services for ones living in poverty, and speaks about the improved health care system in Cuba. While watching Paul Farmer’s interview, he made it clear that giving impoverished nations health care will benefit them all. He says, “Is
I believe that every citizen deserves good healthcare services regardless of his or her geographical area, income, or race. An underserved community is a community in which people are unable to obtain health care or have limited access to the health care system for different of reasons. These reasons include ethnic background, socioeconomic variables, lower salary in some areas, extreme weather, or other life circumstances that produces an uneven distribution of healthcare resources, including nurses. The individuals in underserved communities lack affordable comprehensive health insurance, have gaps in insurance, or are living in remote areas and unable to access care. Additionally, the lack of basic necessities such as money for food, medications,
Located on the western side of South America, Peru is a relatively small country with a very strong culture. Many of the people in Peru are descendants of the people who resided on the land thousands of years ago (Lyle). Because of this, much of the culture and their way of life has stayed the same. However, quite a bit has changed in the country of Peru in recent years as well, and for the better. Medical care is an aspect of the country that has never been quite strong enough. There are several different factors that contribute to this issue, including poor water, not enough medical workers, and citizens that can’t afford to be cared for when they are sick or injured (“Peru”). Medical care has been a struggle in Peru for quite some time, but things are slowly starting to turn around for the country thanks to governmental programs and projects that have been started to help with the medical care of Peru’s citizens. Although there are several programs out there to help the citizens, the country’s health care isn’t quite efficient enough and does not adequately serve the population.
... working in poor conditions with no medicine, and there were no doctors to help with the sickness. Without trained professionals, a country will fall into ruin, like Cambodia did. What happened in Cambodia clearly shows that it is impossible to impose a utopian view on millions of people in a country today. For a country to flourish, it needs people in many different types of roles, including doctors to cure illness, teachers to educate the next generation of citizens, merchants to buy and sell the products created by other citizens, and many more professions. A country today cannot survive if it just has 100% peasants, seeking to survive on their crop production. The Cambodian Genocide also shows the dangers of any government trying to impose racial purity, which has been shown only to lead to many deaths and inhumane acts of cruelty, without any resulting benefit.
“Malnutrition, neonatal diseases, diarrhoea and pneumonia are the major causes of death. Poor rural states are particularly affected by a dearth of health resources.”(doc V) Those who live in rural areas are unable to receive proper health care because of the lack of health resources. This is a sign of discrimination because the rural states are particularly affected, compared to wealthy states are less affected by the illnesses which torment the poor, yet they are still the ones that receive the most help. The government is not building enough health resources and those that are built are not put in the poor rural areas. The poor are denied health care and hospitals simply because they are poor. And without hospitals to cure the sick and impoverished, they fall deeper into poverty. “Life in an Indian slum was never easy, but for Hiraman Ram, a migrant construction worker, it has recently become a lot harder. 5 months ago, the father-of-three was hospitalised with an intestinal infection, and had to cover the expensive treatment from his own pocket. He has since been unable to work, and the family has been pushed deeper into poverty. "We now survive on borrowed money and other people's goodwill",” Hiraman Ram’s sickness caused his family to go further into poverty. The family had to spend all of their money on treatment and all of their time on taking care of the father. They
Much of the work of a medical mission trip such as this is to treat acute illness or injury and then connect those with chronic illness to whatever limited resources exist in their community. We distributed toothbrushes but no toothpaste because many people will quit brushing their teeth when the toothpaste runs out and they cannot buy more. However, even brushing without toothpaste will significantly increase dental health. We served 300 or more patients every day, setting up in different areas to reach as many people without regular access to health care as possible. A real measure of success is when these 'acute' triage clinics are no longer needed in a particular community. Every day we spent in the field, sweltering in the hot Haitian sun, we found such joy and welcome from the Haitian people. They were so gracious and giving even though they live in such extreme poverty. I learned that the little things we take for granted here in the United States are luxuries in Haiti. It was very humbling to be received with such warmth from the Haitian people. Through this experience, I have learned a lot about privilege and not taking things for granted. I’m prepared to work hard, to focus on what is important, and shift strategies or directions when things do not go
To start with, St. Joseph Mercy hospital works with us to do many things. The primary cause of its program to help community members in my experience as an intern was to educate. They serve to educate the community about the health services that are available for people who otherwise would be unable to obtain
I have also been served by my patients. I have come to realize that all of the simple things we do on a daily basis are taken for granted. The simple task of brushing your teeth and eating are something that people need assistance with, something that we don't even think about. I have been oblivious to how simple things to me can be a struggle of everyday life to others. My patients taught me a very valuable lesson in life that I will never forget.
Although the Indigenous population makes up about 49% of the total Guatemalan population, they are almost entirely cut off from adequate access to food. Residing in the western highlands of Guatemala, the lack of access to public services is mainly due to remoteness and overall poor infrastructure in these rural areas. Areas like Totonicapán, San Marcos, Huehuetenango, and Quetzaltenango are just some of the areas that suffer from this extreme poverty and exemplify the poor systems in rural areas. Most conditions and illnesses are left untreated, leading to a myriad of health issues within the community that need to be addressed and prevented. Malnutrition causes other conditions such as diarrhea, stunting, anemia, and vitamin deficiencies.
Volunteering at the Olivet Neighborhood Mission has made me realize that not everyone can afford the same things. In healthcare when patients are sick some tend to refuse treatment because they do not have the funds to pay for it. Educating our patients and the risks that they can take if they
When I was in high school I got the chance to travel to the Dominican Republic with my dad. It was the first time in my life that I would be traveling to a country where a fairly large percentage of the local population live in, what is considered by the United Nations, “extreme poverty”. Many people do not have access to clean drinking water or an education beyond primary school. I did not legitimately understand the situations of these people, and of over 1.5 billion people in the world for that matter, until I was able to see it firsthand.
As a twelve-year old, I took my first mission trip to Cusuna, Honduras. Although this village lies on the coast, the area is over fished, and the soil is sandy and undernourished. The population is almost 100% Garifuna, and widely discriminated against. Consequently, there is little to no food, water,
The biggest issue in my community is not the lack of parks, trails, or businesses. In fact, there are many small businesses here and there is a nice park and a beautiful trail by the river. There is not any gang violence that I know of. But the biggest issue in this town is the people that are in it and their mentality.
Community health workers (CHWs), are frontline workers and members of the communities in which they serve. CHWs serve as bridges between their ethnic, cultural, or geographic communities and health care providers. As such, they have become a “linchpin” for connecting communities to health systems, particularly in minority, rural, and other underserved communities. CHWs reduce health care costs by decreasing unnecessary or avoidable emergency department utilization or hospital services, increasing preventive health screening for early detection, and health education. CHWs provide a return of about $3.00 for each dollar invested or a savings of about $2,000 per patient per year.
One of the most impactful experiences I had in college was my trip to Madagascar. It is one thing to see the disparities in healthcare from afar, especially the accessibility of it, and another to actually experience what someone else goes through in their search for medical care. Our group of three students and our professor decided to trek an hour up a slippery, heavily inclined, and narrow path barefoot climbing the mountain. Not only was this experience absolutely terrifying, it was completely eye opening. There were many people that inhabited the top of the mountain and in speaking to some of them, I realized that the closest doctor was at least an hour away. In Madagascar, there was no such thing as urgent care. Through this experience, I gained an increased awareness and different perspective of the issues in the accessibility of healthcare to rural populations. This further justified my desire to not only go on medical missions, but also to set up clinics in rural parts of India. Furthermore, it helped me solidify my desire in becoming a