Lima Day 1

Finally after two years the trip is finally here. Traveling is like a drug and after going once I couldn't help myself but to experience it again. The next 9 or so days I'll be spending in Lima, Peru working at a mobile clinic through the organization called Medlife at the University of Michigan. After my first mobile clinic in Costa Rica I came back my sophomore year ready to get more involved in a mobile clinic club because the experience I had on my clinic was one I wanted to share with others. Today we started the day with orientation and learning to get familiar with Peru, specifically miraflores. The town is very safe and the people and the community is great as well! So far we have gone out to the casual hang out spots and also have gone to the night life but I can't wait to really get to work at the clinics learning and experiencing. Two years ago I decided to join the team of people who were planning to start Medlife as a club on campus. Now we are the number one new Medlife chapter. Medlife is a non profit organization at different colleges that is run by a national Medlife organization based in Lima, Peru. At first I was hesitant of the program and what they had to offer that would be different and better than what I was already involved in. I have been looking for the answer to that question since the beginning and my reasoning seems to be getting more and more strong every day. So here's why I joined medlife: medlife is an organization that not only focuses on medicine but also public health. This was one of the first selling points to myself because going to other countries you realize how different the health system is there and it shows how important it is to be helping the community with public health as well as us as students learning about public health and what are the differences in the health systems themselves. Secondly, the organization not only works with general doctors but doctors of multiple different types giving people much better quality of health service. This way the people within the community are offered more specialized care based on what they need as well as doctors (who are found from the area so that they are familiar with the area and diseases) that are more experienced in speculated areas. The last point that really took me a while to find was the fact that Medlife puts its importance in the patient experience. One thing that I have realized that I really appreciate is that Medlife isn't a business that caters to their students (however we are very well taken care of), medlife is focusing on the patients and the communities that we are providing care to. For example although as students we can't diagnose many organizations take advantage of being in a rural areas and let the students attempt at things only a certified doctor can do. If the clinics do follow the rules then the students are only giving away Advil and Tylenol which of coarse is useful but doesn't fix their problems once the medicine is done. Medlife respects the people and doesn't try to create a more memorable experience by being dishonest. The ethical boundaries that can be broken can cost someone an admission to med-school! It's an organization that brings real doctors and dentists and uses as many procedures to give future care and preventative care. Medlife makes it possible for a patient to have follow up procedures after we leave the clinic. For this reason and the fact that there are developmental projects in the community to place infrastructure where needed, Medlife gives students the opportunity to make a difference and provide help even when we leave the 10 day trip. I'm excited to learn about the community, get a feel for the culture, and as I have already been doing, improve on my español!