Allie Reichert A'14 Finishes Year as Fulbright Scholar

The parteras (midwives) invited Reichert to wear their traditional clothing for formal events and presentations, including parades, government meetings and Reichert’s project presentations, because they saw her as a part of their organization.

It is a Friday in June, and Allie Reichert A’14 Skypes from a cafe in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. It’s the one day that week she has internet access. Reichert spent the past year in the country on a grant as a Fulbright Scholar, researching indigenous women’s access to health care. Reichert first discovered Ecuador during her junior year at Dartmouth, where she majored in feminist philosophy and minored in global health. She spent time in the country working with the Runa Foundation researching food security.

During her year as a Fulbright Scholar, Reichert worked in two towns. From September through January, she lived with a host family and worked in Otavalo at the Jambi Huasi clinic, which translates to Health House in English. Through an intercultural health care model at the facility, patients may meet with a biomedical doctor in addition to or in lieu of a shaman, who is viewed as a traditional healer.

In January, she relocated to Archidona, a town in the Napo province. There she worked for six months at a midwives’ clinic, AMUPAKIN (Associación de Mujeres Parteras Kichwas de alto Napo, or Association of Women Midwives Kichwas of Alto Napo), which relied on plantbased medicine. Located in the Amazon region, Reichert lived in a cabana on the property. She shared cooking and farming responsibilities with the on-call midwives, learning to distinguish edible plants within the jungle. Reichert noted she was treated as their equal and part of the organization.

For the final month of her project, Reichert returned to Quito to write a research paper with her Fulbright Program sponsor, a professor at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, whose focus is on health care for indigenous women. After collating her data, Reichert noticed distinct experiences in both areas. In Otavalo, the women felt comfortable and heard by both the western doctor and the shaman. The staff spoke the native language and the biomedical doctor respected medical traditions. In Archidona, women preferred the services of the midwives, but went to the hospital more often because government services were free.

Offering a voice for the women in Archidona, Reichert started working with the regional government in Napo to find funding for the clinic. Because the Ecuadorian constitution says its people have a right to intercultural health care, Reichert is lobbying for financial support. She is hopeful she will be able to climb the bureaucratic ladder using her research as a foundation.

Reichert plans to move to Washington, D.C., and continue researching barriers to health care access for women. Her time in Ecuador led to the realization that she loves research, so she is considering a master’s degree in public health or a doctorate in medical anthropology. She would like to eventually return to Ecuador and continue her work there.

Drive is not something Reichert lacks, and her passion for her work is clear. It’s a passion she first found at the Academy while she was serving as a missionary in the Dominican Republic, an experience that started a desire to impact others. “It propelled me to look into women’s issues,” Reichert said. “It started my passion for global health and for women’s health. The Academy does a really good job of running the mission trips. They are a productive way to get girls out in the world and make a difference.”