Medical students experience global health on Jamaica mission trip

A group of medical students from the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine volunteered in Jamaican health clinics this past summer. (Photo courtesy of American Caribbean Experience)

A group of medical students from the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine spent almost two weeks volunteering in Jamaica this past summer. The trip gave them an admiration for the nation’s people and new experiences in global health.

Thirteen Wright State medical students made the journey in July, along with doctors from the Dayton area, faculty members from the medical school and a few Wright State nursing students. The medical mission was completed in partnership with American Caribbean Experience (ACE), an organization working to improve conditions in Jamaica’s St. Mary parish.

Working in seven health care clinics throughout the parish, medical students helped treat about 70 patients a day. They also painted clinic buildings and volunteered at an infirmary by serving soup to its inhabitants.

“Jamaicans are a very loving, accepting and amicable group of people. They always welcomed us wherever we went,” said Jina Moon, of Brea, California, who is beginning her second year in medical school. “Although their living conditions were not the best, they did not cease to be optimistic and continued to uplift the atmosphere with their songs and smiles.”

Moon and Alexandria Sutton, a second-year medical student from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, both received the Joan Cooper Memorial Scholarship, an award given by ACE to students traveling to Jamaica. The scholarship is named in memoriam of Cooper, a family medicine physician and graduate of the Boonshoft School of Medicine who traveled often to Jamaica while serving with ACE. She died in 2016 after a battle with cancer.

The scholarships helped the two students take steps toward achieving their goals in global health. For Moon, who has made similar medical service trips to Ecuador, Mexico and Peru as a volunteer, it gave her the chance to put to practice some of her new clinical skills. Sutton got to see a developing nation for the first time. She learned how conditions in health care can vary between countries.

“Our students helped provide care for a great number of Jamaicans in this impoverished area,” said Thomas Herchline, M.D., professor of internal medicine at the Boonshoft School of Medicine and leader of the annual trip. “This trip also taught them a great deal about working internationally while they continue to develop clinical skills and the ability to work comfortably with patients.”

Much of the patient interaction took place in areas that lacked resources and were difficult to access. The team traveled by bus on trips that took about 90 minutes each way to reach clinics throughout the parish. Most were located in mountains near primary schools. One was located near the water of Robbins Bay. Volunteers also visited the St. Mary’s Infirmary, which holds 90 patients.

“I was able to connect with the patients fairly easily, apart from difficulty at times understanding their accents, which was a very exciting thing,” Sutton said. “Discussing their health and making small talk with them really helped me to get to know the patients as individuals, which made the experience even more rewarding.”

Moon remembered many warm interactions with patients, especially treating a 4-year-old boy suffering a fungal infection, which is commonly treated with a topical antifungal cream. The boy came into the clinic wearing a beanie cap that his sister said he rarely removed in public.

“His sister reported he had an itchy scalp for over a year and had never gotten medical treatment. When we took off the cap to examine his head, we found his scalp was covered with red and white bumps with patches of hair here and there,” Moon said. “It was so severe that we gave him special doses of oral antifungal medicine, instead of the topical cream.”

Moon and Sutton learned from their patients, but they also got to see and experience many different types of medicine. The lessons they learned in Jamaica will help them in choosing specialties later on.

“Although we are used to life in the United States, many of the Jamaican people have very different circumstances,” Sutton said. “We often take things like transportation and drinking water for granted, whereas many of them did not have easy access to either.”

Both medical students found the experience humbling.

“When I travel abroad, I go in expectation to service myself to the people there. However, I always end up receiving so much more,” Moon said. “Through them, I was able to understand and learn that greatness is not what you have, but it’s what you give. The Jamaicans may not have much, but they surely did not hesitate to share their love toward us.”

Wright State celebrates its 50th anniversary as an independent public university in 2017, culminating with a special Homecoming celebration Sept. 29 through Oct. 1.