I have always been skeptical of service-oriented trips. As a high school student, I avoided service trips organized by my church on the grounds that they were unsustainable and only led to an inflated sense of humanitarianism. It seemed unnecessary to travel so far when suffering seemed so prevalent so close to home. Similarly, when college classmates told me of their experiences serving the poor in third-world countries, I questioned if they would build on these experiences later in life and often feared that idealizations of justice and service to humanity would eventually fall victim to careers and personal lives. In my skepticism, however, I soon realized the need to examine my own actions. In doing so, I found that I had overlooked the potential for much greater good to evolve from international health experiences.
On December 27th, 2009 I joined nine medical school classmates, two attending physicians and the Northwestern University Alliance for International Development (NU-AID) in partnership with the Blue Mountain Project (BMP) on a one week service trip to Hagley Gap, Jamaica. Through daily clinics and home visits, we aimed to address the medical needs of individuals and families and to help them live healthier. I left with an open mind and a willingness to serve and had hoped to positively affect the Hagley Gap community; however, I could not have anticipated the positive influence that the trip had on my own understanding of public and global health. The trip became a valuable learning experience and, through the BMP, an inspirational example of sustainability in action as well.
In a single week, one cannot expect to ensure continuous quality healthcare for all families in Hagley Gap, nor can one expect to prevent the occurences of hypertension, diabetes, and STDs. In a single week, there is hardly enough time to fully recognize all the medical needs of such a complex community, much less address them. Indeed, if the extent of NU-AID's involvement in Hagley Gap had simply been one week, we might easily have succumbed to the weight of ostensibly unattainable ideals. The BMP's continual presence in Jamaica, however, is what allows groups like NU-AID to return twice a year and build upon past progress. Through this continued partnership, there have been steady, significant improvements in the overall health of the Hagley Gap community.
Having now realized the potential for good, I believe the most difficult aspect of my own personal experience will now be figuring out how to translate this experience back to life in the United States and my future practice as a physician. Thankfully, NU-AID doesn’t just focus on global health; instead, it also seeks to make a lasting impact on local communities. Therefore, instead of discontinuity between the international experience and the “return to reality”, a strong connection can be made between, say, Jamaica and the Cabrini Green neighborhood on the west-side of Chicago. Health disparities exist in every corner of the globe, and while a patient in Jamaica may be very different from a patient in Cabrini Green, there are many similarities in the everyday struggles they face. Their need for caring, empathetic physicians that understand suffering on a visceral level remains the same.
Building off our experience in Hagley Gap, my classmates and I are currently hard at work raising funds for Haiti relief and planning subsequent trips to Jamaica for future generations of medical students. We are also now in the process of designing an extended voyage for a few students to perform an assessment of medical needs. Change is indeed a long and arduous process, but I hope to use my experiences as a testament to its tangibility.
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