Written by: Bailey Hall
Over winter break I was given the amazing opportunity to
travel to Nicaragua for a week with 35 other Mizzou students, 3 of which being
my sisters, as members of Global Medical Training. We went to different areas each day to run a
free healthcare clinic. In the clinics,
we would work in groups consisting of four students and one translator. Together we came up with a diagnosis,
possible treatment, and wrote prescriptions.
Then one of our doctors would check our work and sign off on it. Most of the patients we saw just had minor
problems like cold, flu, allergies, dehydration, etc. We also saw lots of patients with high blood
pressure and diabetes. Since Nicaragua
is the poorest country in Central America, most people there do not have the
education or resources to treat these simple health problems without our help. As the week went on, we learned more about
medicine and the common problems in that area such as parasites and a new virus
called Chikungunya. Gaining this
knowledge enabled us to treat patients more efficiently, and it was very
rewarding to see our progress as medical students. My time there was such an
eye opening experience. People live in
ways that I could never imagine here in the U.S. yet they are still so happy
and grateful. I’ve never felt so
appreciated or important. The trip was a
huge success. Over our five clinic days,
we treated a total of 711 patients, which greatly exceeded our expectations. I
gained so much knowledge of basic health problems and medications, got to
experience a new culture, and made so many new friends along the way. I cannot express how fortunate I feel to have
gotten this opportunity, and how excited I am to go back again next year.