Summer 2013 COM Outlook | NSU College of Osteopathic Medicine

6 COM Outlook . Summer 2013 Treasured Time: Students Relish Lessons Learned in Ecuador In March, a group of first-year students and 10 volun- teers/preceptors traveled to Ecuador to conduct a medical outreach program in medically underserved communities. n opportunity for first-year medical students to travel abroad and get hands-on experience in the field is truly invaluable. No matter what the ad- ditional interests were—the opportunity to practice Span- ish, see a new continent, or experience a new culture—the united purpose of wanting to help people who do not often get medical care inspired 25 NSU-COM students to leave their regular, lecture-led lives and immerse them- selves in an entirely different world. The group travelled to the outskirts of Quito, followed by the tropical valley of Tandayapa, and ending in Milpe before our flight back out of Quito. Each location clinic setup was unique and provided us with valuable knowl- edge. The clinic setups included • a family and internal medicine station led by Dr. Joby James, Dr. Franciso Leiva, Dr. Naresh Pathak, and Dr. Rhea Ramlal • an OB-GYN station led by Dr. Hussain Rawji, a pe- diatric station led by Dr. Mercedes Rodriguez, an osteo- pathic manipulative medicine (OMM) station led by Dr. Jill Wallace-Ross, a dental station led by Dr. Shirin Rawji, and a pharmacy station run by Cynthia Eiring, NP. Dr. Ro Risa Reina, a radiologist, worked triage Upon arrival at a site, there were usually some leaders from the town there to help set up and explain what to expect, although some leaders often needed medical care themselves. Small children waited eagerly in long lines with their parents, obedient even when knowing more often than not they could leave that day with fewer teeth. And then, as soon as we stepped off the bus, all expecta- tions of a typical shadowing experience fell away as we were thrown headfirst into organizing stations, commu- nicating with people, and learning how to help them with our own hands. A Starting at the triage station, everyone was expected to use what Spanish we knew, alongside translators, to figure out where to send the incoming people. Often entire families would come together, and with each brief history, a clearer picture of what the family’s daily life looked like started to become clear. While taking people’s tempera- tures, we learned about why exactly they needed attention and more about the important little details of their lives. Some were teachers, some were farmers, but all were open and grateful they were receiving medical attention that would not require travel, funds, or time. Others were sim- ply happy to have someone to listen to their stories. In both the family and internal medicine sections, and more with each subsequent day, students were expected to do some aspects of physical exams and were expected to ask more detailed and relevant questions, specifically dis- cussing with the preceptors what the right course of action was and why. While each patient received personalized care, we were put in the role of what a medical profession- al does every day. There was never a moment to get truly comfortable because the limits of what was expected of us always grew and the locations quickly changed. We recalled the moment when our first patient came in and we realized we were expected, with our own hands, to examine an actual patient—something that had only Changing Lives...One Person at a Time International Outreach at NSU-COM By Sofia A. Funes (OMS-I), Romana Popara (OMS-I), and Alexander Gonzalez-Jacobo (OMS-I)