Medical Mission
A group of graduate and undergraduate students from Slippery Rock University's physician's assistant program used their free time between semesters last month to take a medical mission trip to Peru.
Six members of Slippery Rock's new physician's assistant master's degree program and seven undergraduate physician's assistant students spent Jan. 7 through the 15th in Huancayo, Peru, and outlying villages.
Kelly Miller, one of the master's program members, organized the trip through the Foundation of International Medical Relief for Children.
FIMRC describes itself as a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health of families in the developing world through innovative and self-sustainable health improvement programs.
Through its network of outpatient clinics and partnerships, FIMRC provides clinical services, extensive community outreach efforts and health education programs.
It cost each participant between one thousand and two thousand dollars to participate in the trip.
Miller of Fresno, Calif., said, “The community I'm from is a big, underserved area. I believe in community service, including starting a nonprofit there to feed children.”
“I picked Slippery Rock because of the program's focus on special-needs populations,” said Miller. “Once I'm done, I plan to go back home and save the people I love.”
Miller said of the Peruvian trip, “As a class I thought it would be something we would be interested in and partly because it would expand our knowledge of the medical field beyond the United States.”
Miller said the students arrived in Huancayo in the Andes Mountains.
“It was the city where we stayed,” said Miller. During the mornings, teams of made up of four students, a Peruvian nurse and an interpreter would go to clinics and schools in neighboring villages and perform blood-pressure and diabetes screenings and give flu shots.
“In the afternoon, the students would give presentations on hand washing and skin care, among other subjects, at schools and orphanages.”“Skin care is a big problem there. They don't know about ultraviolet light,” said fellow graduate program member Michelle George of Windber, Somerset County.During screenings, George said, “The main things we noticed were anemia and diabetes. Their diet is high in carbs.”Another graduate program student, Alexandra “Ellie” Franz of Pittsburgh, said, “I really enjoyed both the medical screening work with the patients and the education interaction with the community.”Miller said, “We were staying with local host families, who got money to fix up their homes. They cooked our meals and gave us a chance to see the culture and interact with the people.”Franz said the physician's assistant students might organize another overseas trip next year, although second-year master's program students, would be unable to go because they would be involved in clinicals.“I hope every class would make it a tradition,” Franz said.
