Global Brigades: Health Promotion in Panama By Bakhtawar Bajwa, MPH, ‘15 On the morning of May 25, 2013, 36 students traveled to Darien, Panama, as part of the Stony Brook Global Medical Brigades team. Our brigade was to last for seven days, providing basic health care for the communities of Nicanor and Embera Purú. Global Brigades is a student-based organization with chapters based all over the United States, Canada, U.K., Ireland, Germany and Switzerland. Its initiatives are widespread – from medical, dental, and public health to brigades that focus on microfinance, architecture and business. Currently, Global Brigades works in Ghana, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. The preparation for our brigade to Panama had been going on for the entire school year. Students had gathered enough resources to collect medical donations to provide for all of the patients that would be seen on the brigade. In addition to the one U.S. doctor going with us, we had two Panamanian physicians, one dentist, two pharmacists and an EMT. Split up into five days, the brigade started off with the sorting of all the medical supplies, including dental supplies, vitamins, anesthetics, painkillers and a variety of other medicines. With the help of the pharmacists, we prepackaged all medications for use at the clinics in our communities. One standard dental package containing toothpaste and a toothbrush was made for every member of both communities. In addition to the dental supplies, every member of the community was given a small supply of vitamins to be incorporated into their diets.
Image credit: Renjith Krishnan
As our brigade finally took off – after some long, strenuous hours of medicine sorting – the students were assigned to different stations of the clinic ranging from triage, consultation, dental, pharmacy and data informatics, which is important in keeping records of all the patients seen on the brigades. In addition to the clinic, a separate public health effort was being implemented, which involved the construction of five latrines throughout the community of Embera Purú. Building of the latrines was a public health effort that went further than simply educating the communities about their health. It provided a step toward sustainability, which is difficult to achieve in volunteer trips that last only a few days and provide medications that won’t go beyond the time frame of six months at a time. Split into five groups for this public health initiative, we were able to build five latrines from the base up with the help of the Panamanian engineers provided to us
by Global Brigades. The work was labor intensive and dirty and lasted for long hours under the scorching sun. However, the effort of building these latrines had an impact on both the volunteers and the community members that goes far beyond our imaginations. There is the evident result of having proper sanitation provided via the compost latrine that is above ground, feasible for any waterlogged area. In addition to the sustainability factor of building compost latrines, the building effort by volunteers was a way to interact with the families in the community. From morning until evening, we spent our time with the families, just outside of their wall-less houses, building the latrines not just for them, but with them. In the process, most family members, including children of all ages, joined us in our efforts and helped with tasks such as mixing cement. This is where the true connection happened. Even with the language barriers, we were able to observe the lifestyle of this small community thousands of miles away from the city life, the food they ate, and their social activities. How a community runs, how the people interact with one another, and how they care for each other are all aspects that lie at the root of all public health efforts. Building a latrine for one family turned into building a relationship with the entire community, essentially opening doors for future health care efforts.
Helping to Heal in Muzaffarpur, India By Rahul Sinha, MD; MPH, ’14 Waking up every morning and finding out that there is someone in poor health waiting outside the house to be seen by you, someone who is hoping to get some free medication to relieve their suffering, had become routine for me. Soon I realized that most of them needed specialized care, which was available in the far away regional referral center, but was inaccessible to many because of limited information and lack of proper public transportation and roadways. One morning, I met an old man who reached my house after traveling a few miles on bicycle with someone’s help. He had
elephantiasis with severe secondary skin infection, requiring intensive wound care and medications. He had been suffering from this illness for a long time, but he could not afford the medical care. Slowly, his immediate family members had distanced themselves from him, as they perceived his illness as a communicable disease.
strong commitment to help people in need, which started at my house and slowly spread into the community. Ultimately, I decided to take a few ill patients with me each day and bring them back and forth to the hospital. This simple intervention at the individual level changed many lives, including that of the old man with elephantiasis.
At that time I was working at the regional government referral hospital, where the co-payment was approximately 10 cents (USA $ equivalent) and all services, including medications, were free. Every day, I commuted from my village house with
Having a good transport system is important for delivering quality care. Improving the overall infrastructure in a developing economy like India is important for better access to health care and thus improving health and quality of life!
To learn more about Hofstra’s MPH and MS in Community Health programs and to find out about upcoming events and view archived webinars, please visit hofstra.edu/Academics/Colleges/healthscienceshumanservices. You can also email Corinne Kyriacou, PhD, MPH, associate professor and director, MPH and MS in Community Health programs, at corinne.m.kyriacou@hofstra.edu.
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