Meet this weeks Campus Celebrity, Liz Burgess! This senior who hails from Danvers, Massachusetts is Co-President of Medical Brigades. Her major is Genetics with a minor in psychology and she’s using what she knows and taking it to Hondoraus to help those with less access to health care. Keep reading below to find out what Medical Brigades is all about!
How did you get involved in medical Brigades and how long have you been involved?
I received an email at the end of my sophomore year from two students who were trying to start a chapter of Global Brigades at UNH. They were looking for interested students to help them get the chapter going. I had always wanted to do volunteer work (especially in medicine) in a developing country so I jumped at the opportunity. I became an exec. and then took over the chapter the following year.
What are your responsibilities as co-president?
My co-president, Ben, and I were responsible for recruiting students for the brigade, recruiting healthcare professionals to come with us (dentists, doctors, physicians assistants, nurses), coordinating fundraisers so we could purchase medicine to bring down to Honduras with us, buying the medicine, securing flights for the group, basically making sure the trip ran smoothly. Luckily, we had an awesome group and were able to rely on them for help; the trip wouldn’t have been possible without everyone’s help!
Can you tell us exactly what being a part of medical brigades is all about?
Medical Brigades is just one sector out of nine of Global Brigades, the bigger organization we are a part of. The mission of Global Brigades is to provide sustainable solutions to underprivileged communities in developing countries. Along with Medical Brigades there are, for example, Water Brigades, Public Health Brigades, and Microfinance Brigades to help these communities become more independent. Our job on a medical brigade is to provide health care to the community members. Sometimes this means refilling a prescription for a chronic condition, like high blood pressure, or treating diseases like chickenpox, parasites, and scabies, but usually we just see routine things like cold, headaches, joint pain, etc. Our students either work in triage where they take down patient complaints, or they shadow the doctors, or they run a children’s lesson on teeth brushing, or they work in the pharmacy filling prescriptions. We see around 200 patients a day.
What is your favorite part about it?
My favorite part is getting to know the community members, especially the kids. They are so happy and energetic. I love playing soccer with them after a long day, it’s so much fun.
When is the next trip taking place and where are you going?
We are actually expanding next year, which is really exciting. We are starting a Water Brigade in addition to the Medical Brigade and we are going to have two medical brigades, one to Ghana and one to Honduras. The Water Brigade (to Ghana) and the Medical Brigade to Ghana will be during winter break next year and the Medical Brigade to Honduras will be May 2014. There is space available to if anyone is interested let them know they can contact me!
What kind of work do you have to put into for these trips?
It’s a lot of work, which we stress to all the potential members. To have a successful brigade takes many, many hours of preparation from every member including weekly meetings and it is imperative that every member put in time on their own. However, the end reward is unparalleled and worth every minute!
What is the trip like?
We wake up at about 7 am for breakfast, travel an hour to the brigade site and then go off to our respective roles. Every day you do something different. If you are in triage you get to try and use your Spanish to communicate with patients (don’t worry there are translators). We are responsible for documenting their chief complaints so the doctors can take a quick glimpse and know what’s going on with each patient. If you are working in the consultation station for the day you will be shadowing doctors and have the opportunity to learn about diagnosing patients, the doctors are awesome about explaining their thought process. If you are working in the ‘charla’ which is the children’s dental station you get to teach children how to properly brush their teeth and give each child a fluoride treatment. And finally, if you are working in the pharmacy you prepare the prescriptions for each patient we see, compiling all their medicine for them and instructing them on how to take each kind. After all the patients are seen we get bused back to the compound where we check our medicine inventory and replenish if necessary.
What are you looking forward to most about the trip?
Unfortunately, I’ll be graduating so I won’t be going on another trip.
Why is this something you are a part of, what is the importance of this group for you?
This group is so important to me. Brigading in Honduras has really opened my eyes to the lack of available health care in developing countries. I am so privileged to have access to health care every day; most anything I need is available to me. I feel like most of us take this for granted and to see people come into our pop-up clinic just looking for some Advil to relieve their joint pain because they’ve worked out in the fields all day for 40 years is heartbreaking. I have the ability to help them and I believe in putting forth my best effort to do so. It is something I really enjoy, too. It brings me fulfillment and joy to see the gratitude and the elation spread across the community members faces when we give them their medicine.
Do you plan to continue being a part of it?
I plan to continue to be as much a part of Global Brigades as possible. I am currently applying to be a brigade coordinator so hopefully next year I will move to Central America and help University students plan and execute successful brigades as well as travel around with different groups and help them with their briage.
What are your other involvements with UNH?
Global Brigades, Phi Sigma Biological Honors Society, Chem/Bio Tutor, Research on gene expression in Arabadopsis thaliana, and I think I’ve tried every intramural sport, I love them all!