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A Conversation With Medical Student Jessica Sidrak About Her Bolivia Missions Experience
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CMANA’S First Health Fair Is a Success in New York, Looks to Expand Next Year
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CMANA’s Newest Board Member Marie Hanna Keeps Coptic Christian Medical Professionals Connected
One of the most formative and beneficial experiences for any Christian is to serve others on a mission trip.
CMANA’s trip to Bolivia earlier this year was especially meaningful for Jessica Sidrak, a New Jersey medical student. Sidrak says the trip boosted her professionally and spiritually. Here are highlights from our conversation about her insights and reflections on serving in Bolivia as a first-year medical student.
Q: What impacted you about the trip to Bolivia?
Sidrak: It was definitely very good exposure in terms of seeing patients from a different background than what we see here in the States. You see different pathologies, different diseases, and you give them
different medications than what we give here It was a great opportunity to take what we were seeing and learning in school and apply it. It was also a great opportunity to serve in a Christ-focused way
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Q: What were some challenges on the trip?
Sidrak: In preparing for the trip, I think we brought close to 300 pounds of medications to Bolivia with us. It sounds like a lot, but we did end up using a lot of it The patients did need it I had less than a month maybe two weeks or so to organize medication and figure out how we were going to get them shipped there. A lot of the healthcare professionals who went to Bolivia with us were carrying the medications with them.
You know, 300 pounds, of course, is a blessing from God, but it is still a very limited supply in terms of the variety of medications that we could give. So, for example, if you had a patient come in with a heart problem, the best medication to give them might
not be the one that we had with us So there was a lot of coordinating with the doctors to find the best medication for the patient based on what we had.
And also, there are pharmacies in Bolivia, and there's one affiliated with the church. But a lot of the patients that we were seeing are poor and they might not necessarily have the means, the funds, or the ability even to access a pharmacy. So it was definitely a balancing act of trying to get them the best thing for their condition and get them in good health and good shape But also, doing it within the constraints that we had.
Q: What are some takeaways that you have from the trip?
Sidrak: The thing that really stuck with me is that even if a mother or grandmother was struggling with something, they were so concerned with the needs of others, and put them first.
Another thing that kind of surprised me almost because we sort of live in a bubble in the States and we don’t know how blessed we are truly but I thought that we would like be serving at clinic. I thought we would bring what we have and sort of help them out at their clinics
But they don’t have clinics that are established there So, we had a couple of tables and chairs that we packed with us. At every stop, we would unpack all the tables, unpack all the chairs, and then take out the medications that we brought with us, and set up. And that would be the clinic. We had one table, you know, where we checked blood pressure and blood glucose, and we checked them in We'd have another table for internal med, one table for pediatrics, one for cardio, and so on. It wasn't a clinic
in the sense of what I understood a clinic looks like, or like what I was used to seeing. But God did bless us with everything that we brought
This is what I loved, I think, the most: making the most of what we had There were times when things just did not go according to plan. But, we were all in good spirits, and we’d just figure it out. We'd go with the flow And, you know, it was filled with happiness It was filled with community and love love for what we're doing, love for one another, love for Christ. That was one thing that defined the trip and that I really took away from it
Q: Do you plan to take another medical missions trip with CMANA?
Sidrak: Absolutely, 1000 percent! There's no way to put into words how great it was, and how great the gratitude is that you feel coming out of it.
Volunteers from NYU Team, Medical Professionals, and Students at the First NY CMANA Health Fair
edical student Catreen
Abouelsaad can’t remember a time when she wasn’t serving in church. The SUNY Downstate College of Medicine fourth-year student is a founding member of CMANA’s New York chapter. She also has a lifetime of experience helping those in need,
both in the States and overseas.
Organizing CMANA’s first-ever health fair in August 2024 at the St. George Community Center in Brooklyn, New York, was a natural next step for Abouelsaad. AUGUST
“It definitely took a lot of time to organize this,” said Abouelsaad. “Once we set the date and the location, we reached out to multiple health professionals through the church or through friends. We asked individuals to volunteer their time to sign up for this health fair, whether they're pre-medical students, healthcare professionals, medical students anyone who's a part of the medical field. We included dentistry, pharmacy, PAs, NPs. We tried to reach out to anyone who's in the field to help us with both organizing and contributing, in terms of advice.”
The team had a great response with a variety of professionals and students in multiple fields signing up to help. The next step of the planning was to organize the specialists and how the patients would be screened and treated. Some of the specialists who volunteered their services included professionals in gastroenterology, cardiology, pulmonology, weight management, women's health, men's health, and podiatry. Patients could also find resources for medical services outside the fair.
Mental Health Service Volunteers set up PHQ9 Screenings: (from right to left) Bretty Aziz and Michael Farid
“We had a triage area where we would get the individual's blood pressure, their weight, their medical history, and medications that they take. We would also do screenings for individuals based on their demographics, as well as do psychiatric screening to see if they are struggling with anything in life, as well as blood glucose monitoring. And then once we gathered all that information, we would ask them if they were interested in seeing any other individuals, specifically specialists,” said Abouelsaad.
Audiometry Table, Photographed: (from right to left) Audiologist Merna Zaklama and high school student Anthony Youssef
Abouelsaad says the day went smoothly, and she credits her team for the success, citing their excellent organization and communication skills. About 50 patients attended the four-hour event, which Abouelsaad calls a “great number for our very first health fair.”
More health fairs are certain to follow, as Abouelsaad sees the fair growing to accommodate more people around New York.
Catreen Abouelsaad (far right) gathered with pre-med, PA and other medical students participating in the health fair
“I'm very excited to continue this. I am hoping that we can do this biannually, but we have to see what we can do. It's definitely something we're going to plan to do every year, ” said Abouelsaad. “I think it's vital to our community, especially because New York City is full of immigrants, and not many of them can speak English. I think our next goal is to not only expand the health fair, but to also include a lot of translators to help with bridging the language barrier that gap between immigrants and healthcare in the U.S. We're also going to branch out and try to go to a different borough next year. ”
CMANA Health Fair Volunteers gather at local sushi restaurant to celebrate the NY chapter's first health fair event.
It’s not always easy being a Coptic Christian working in the secular medical field. Having the opportunity for fellowship and encouragement with other Coptic Christians with similar experiences is crucial for young professionals.
Marie Hanna is a passionate advocate for keeping Coptic Christian medical professionals connected. She sees these relationships as benefiting individuals’ health and the Church’s longevity. Hanna, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins for the last 20 years, has worked as an anesthesiologist and acute pain specialist for 28 years.
Hanna has worked with CMANA since its inception. She’s been an active member and created the first local CMANA chapter in Maryland about four years ago. Since then, she’s helped launch the first chapter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She’s in the process of starting a Florida chapter in Tampa and another in Cleveland, Ohio.
She started the local chapters for CMANA when she saw a need among the younger members.
“A few years ago, I said, these young professionals meet once a year, and then where is the mentorship? Where is the fellowship? Where is the bond? All of them serve at church, which is different than their work environment. Can we get people similar to them to meet with them and to share with them and to have a common ground?
She started the local chapters for CMANA when she saw a need among the younger members.
“A few years ago, I said, these young professionals meet once a year, and then where is the mentorship? Where is the fellowship? Where is the bond? All of them serve at church, which is different than their work environment. Can we get people similar to them to meet with them and to share with them and to have a common ground?
“By building local chapters they don't need to wait years to meet each other, and they don't have to travel a long distance to have a meeting. Chapters meet regularly and do mission trips together It's mainly for the young generation, because, in my belief, any organization is not gonna be sustainable if we don't train the young generation to lead the way,” said Hanna.
Hanna says that organizing and launching local chapters is an effective way to train new leaders and build the Coptic community. The local chapter meetings offer a safe environment for members to discuss sensitive topics, such as mental health care, with their peers.
Now, Hanna has assumed a seat on the CMANA Board. Her primary focus as CMANA’s newest Board member is to continue launching local chapters.
“I hope to have more chapters because we have buckets of strong Coptic medical communities,” said Hanna “We have a big bucket in Tampa, Florida, and that's why we are opening that chapter this fall. In Pennsylvania and Maryland, we have a strong community. In New York, they have a chapter now. Ohio is just loaded with healthcare workers there, and maybe Texas will be next. We just have to identify good leaders there who can help.”
If you are interested in starting or joining a CMANA local chapter in your area, contact Marie Hanna at Mhanna9@jhmi.edu.
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