Pre-meds go above and abroad
Americans are constantly told they “have it good,” but after spending five weeks volunteering in a Honduran hospital this summer, Chance Christensen believes this statement to be true more than ever before.
Christensen, a junior majoring in human movement science, said each day began by waking up early and walking five miles from his host family’s home, to the regional hospital Atlantida. He said there were taxis he could have ridden in, but taking them was more dangerous than walking.
“My wife and my mother were quite nervous about me going down there. Honduras is a dangerous place, and (the city of) La Ceiba is known for criminal activity,” Christensen said. “I had to be led into the hospital every day by a guy with a very large gun.”
Christensen said he was in Honduras for a total of 10 weeks, spending half of his time working in an orphanage and the other half in the hospital. He said the experience helped him prepare for his future as a medical student.
“I had the opportunity to meet and work with some of the best physicians Honduras has to offer. I was able to get hands-on experience, which I doubt many other medical students have had, with trauma and medical procedures,” Christensen said.
Christensen is not the only pre-med student from USU who has had hands-on experience at an international hospital.
Brandon Martin, a senior biology major, spent nearly 270 hours volunteering at the hospital in Granada, Nicaragua, during the past two summers.
“It was an incredible experience,” Martin said. “It gave me a more well-rounded view of the world.”
Martin said he arranged both month-long trips on his own. After writing a letter requesting a job at the hospital, he had a friend in Nicaragua hand deliver it. He was invited to work in the lab, drawing blood. Although Martin said he didn’t know what to expect at first, eventually the experience greatly impacted his life.
“I was hoping to understand the status of health care in the developing world, but when I was there, I was impacted the most by the lack of supplies and resources,” Martin said. “For instance, gloves are really limited. I’d try to use only one or two pairs per day down there, whereas here we’d switch gloves between each patient.”
Martin said the doctors he worked with were well educated, but their lack of access to proper equipment and supplies was what struck him the most.
Christensen also saw a great lack of supplies in Honduras.
“We had one patient break his femur in a motorcycle accident. He laid there for four hours before surgery without any pain medication,” Christensen said.
Christensen said the physician’s thought process was that the man would be going into surgery soon, and he would need the medicine then, so it should be saved.
“There’s not an unlimited supply of medicine (in Honduras) like there is here,” Christensen said. “If the hospital runs out, it takes a lot of effort to go get more.”
Christensen said the lack of supplies not only affected the comfort of patients, but in some cases, it affected their lives.
“Even though it’s the largest in the area, the hospital doesn’t have any advanced surgical teams. There are no helicopters, and it takes a long time to transport people,” Christensen said. “Many people who could have been saved in American hospitals died because of the lack of medicine and staff.”
Christensen said watching patients go through experiences like this made him care more about patient comfort.
“It made me much more empathetic and understanding,” Christensen said.
After Martin’s first experience at the Nicaraguan hospital in 2010, he decided to be more proactive and do his part to improve the situation. He collaborated with the USU Honors program to do a fundraiser so supplies could be purchased by the hospital.
The Honors Program also helped Christensen pay for his trip.
“One of the reasons I was able to do this was a generous grant from the Honors department,” Christensen said. “Without them it would have been a lot more difficult for me to have this experience. They played a very big part in making it possible.”
Chistie Fox, the Honors Program director, said the Honors Program doesn’t have any direct involvement with organizing international student volunteers, but they support those who do it. Honors students may apply to the honors research fund for money to support their trips if they are going to volunteer abroad.
She said she was impressed by both Christensen’s and Martin’s efforts to experience and better understand the cultures of these different countries.
“One thing that’s so impressive about what Chance and Brandon did is that they organized it themselves. They both picked experiences that would benefit them now, as undergraduates, and in the future in medical school and as doctors,” Fox said. “It takes courage and, for lack of a better word, gumption to travel to a foreign country on your own and get involved there. Through this kind of travel and involvement, we make the world smaller, which I think is a goal of higher education.”
Martin said going to volunteer in another country was an incredible experience for him, and he would encourage others to get involved and challenge themselves culturally.
“I feel like growing up here, in Utah, I’ve been somewhat sheltered. We need to look at a wider worldview than just locally,” Martin said. “We need to try to be an influence for good in the world.”
–m.noble@aggiemail.usu.edu