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October 12, 2016

Nicaragua

By jdoliver

blog-photo-3by Jeremie Oliver

“It’s going to be a good day today,” were the words of encouragement from our physician leader, Dr. Bachman. I distinctly remember standing at the triage station of our clinic, assembled within a local schoolhouse building, gazing in awe at the hundreds of Nicaraguans grasping the fence with desperation in their faces. Our job was to provide the highest quality, patient-centered medical attention to each and every one of them. Feelings of personal desperation began to absorb me, sensing my own inadequacy in this dire situation. After all, what significant difference could an untrained, first-year medical student really contribute to these people in need? How was I going to effectively communicate with them, with a limited capacity to speak their native language? And communicating with them, how would I be able to convey to them a significant message to better their health and personal well-being?

All of these thoughts seemed to strike me simultaneously as I gathered all of the mental and emotional implications of the task at hand. I glanced at my many teammates around me who were locating medical supplies and assembling the different clinical stations so that we could begin to see patients. We were each divided into various groups to staff different areas of the clinic: the pharmacy, triage unit, several clinical stations for patient encounters, dental clinic, women’s health clinic, and an educational station for children and adults to learn more about preventative care. The anxiety quickly dissipated as we pressed forward, relying on the unique talents of each member of our healthcare team. The physicians rotating through the clinical stations were supportive, as they each focused on the specific, unique needs of the patients and their families as they presented. As medical students, we were granted a great deal of autonomy to take a full medical, family, and social history for each patient, assessing the chief complaints of each person and helping to educate them on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. We were taught the hands-on aspects of performing a physical exam to help diagnose the conditions of each patient, as well as the recommended medications to prescribe in each unique case. Our goal was to establish a solid foundation for a more stable system of delivering healthcare, in an effort to perpetuate positive change towards a healthier livelihood for those living in these incredibly underserved communities of rural Nicaragua.

In addition to providing medical care for over 1,300 patients at the local school building, we were given the opportunity to make special house visits to attend to theneeds of those in the community who were severely disabled and unable to walk to the clinic. While visiting these patients in their homes, we were able to get a sense for the environment in which they live, allowing us to provide a more personalized level of care beyond what we could have provided otherwise. Our medical brigade group was the very first to provide care in this particular community. Despite the impoverished circumstances in which these individuals live and their oftentimes debilitating physical conditions, these were some of the happiest people I have ever met. The gratitude emanating from the patients and their family members was palpable.

blog-photo-2Seeing the reactions from so many individuals in this community enabled me to appreciate the true purposes of this medical brigade. Oftentimes, it is difficult to fully appreciate all of the positive effects originating from medical outreach work. It is not until we are personally involved that we can see all that we have done. Beyond the readily recognizable impact of medical treatment and education our group was able to leave in this community in Nicaragua, this medical brigade has opened up tremendous avenues for future development of public health, infrastructure, water treatment, local business, and overall well-being for the community members through upcoming outreach efforts. Attending to the medical needs of each individual under the Mayo Model of Care has created the foundational support for the longitudinal and self-sufficient process of change in such communities. I plan to continue to actively participate in and organize many future medical outreach efforts as a medical student and future physician, to better attend to the needs of those who have less access to quality health care in their local communities.

As an entering Mayo Medical Student, this experience with my fellow classmates and Mayo Clinic physicians in Nicaragua truly set the standard high for the journey ahead. In addition to being trusted by the physicians on our trip to personally conduct full medical interviews and physical exams in Spanish, I had the opportunity to prepare and present a training on Oral Rehydration Therapy to those attending the orientation, which has been used toward producing a research study on the efficacy of training and simulation experiences prior to international medical mission trips. Along with my classmate Archna Patel and Dr. John Bachman (the director of the mission trip), I will be presenting an oral and poster presentation of the study at the Family Medicine Forum at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester this fall. As someone who greatly cherishes my experiences living abroad as a volunteer, this international clinical experience has given me a more focused vision of how I can incorporate my passion for reaching out to the underserved into my future practice as a Mayo-trained physician. I can already sense that this institution values these efforts of outreach, which was a very influential factor in choosing Mayo Medical School for my medical education. I could not have possibly imagined a greater beginning to the next four years of training, being actively engaged in humanitarian outreach work alongside my classmates and clinical instructors, making a tangibly positive impact in a previously isolated community.  I have learned to be patient with myself and to trust in the abilities of my teammates on the health care team, which has allowed me to be taught so much by each of them—even before we started classes together!

blog-photo-1

Jeremie is a first-year Mayo medical student, originally from the North Shore of O'ahu, Hawai'i. Having lived in Brazil for over two years prior to beginning medical school, he has gained a great interest in incorporating substantial humanitarian work in his future surgical practice. He plans to pursue either Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery or Plastic Reconstructive Surgery. His favorite extracurricular activities include sky-diving, long-distance running, and swimming in the Pacific Ocean.

 

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