Global Health in Puerto Escondido, Mexico

The program was outstanding, and the people at CFHI both in the US and while in Mexico were all committed to the wellbeing of the participants and the communities they serve. I am so thankful for having had the opportunity to go abroad with CFHI -- what an adventure! Beautiful beaches, fun music, local food, and surf lessons filled the afternoons and weekends. And best of all, this vacation-like experience included an altruistic mission: supporting the health of the local community. With subtle lessons in cultural competency, the daily experiences abroad have forever made me a better healthcare practitioner to all patient populations. It was both humbling and rewarding to provide primary care in the local health clinics of rural towns surrounding Puerto Escondido. Now, back in NYC, I realize that I am more understanding of many of my patients, in particular who are immigrants, who struggle with a language barrier, or who are from cultures different than my own. Lastly, I am thankful for the language skills acquired in Mexico during the Spanish classes as well as in the clinics, on the beach, and at the homestay. Knowing Spanish, especially medical Spanish, enables me to provide better care for many of my Spanish-speaking patients and allows me to pursue a greater diversity of career opportunities. I am a nurse; now back in school to become a Nurse Practitioner. I have student loans and very little time off from school; regardless, I found a way to be an international volunteer. If you like traveling, enjoy challenging yourself, and aspire to be the best healthcare professional you can be, then make the time, find the funds, and go abroad with Child Family Health International – ‘let the world change you’.

I spent an incredible month in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, in the Women's Reproductive Health Elective with CFHI. CFHI handles it all- from the homestay to the clinical experiences to the language learning. As a busy medical student, I'm extremely grateful for this once in a lifetime opportunity to do clinical learning alongside language learning. Additionally, one of the best things about the program was the opportunity to learn alongside incredible peers from other medical schools who were also participating in the program. Our group of CFHI-ers provided a supportive space to reflect on experiences as well as a space to go through the growing pains of being in a new country with different customs. Through Spanish language classes, I learned Spanish grammar concepts and Medical Spanish with my peers. I left the program ready to learn even more Spanish and excited about all that I had accomplished in just one month. I also appreciated the opportunity to practice interviewing patients in Spanish at one of the clinics in Puerto, but hope that this opportunity will be expanded to all the clinics. I highly recommend this program to others. I will say that I think students who have studied Spanish before will likely get the most out of this program compared to those who have not studied Spanish at all.

Prior to the program, I had never had the opportunity to travel alone and never really got to explore healthcare in other countries even though I always had interest in global/public health. Before CFHI, I didn’t know who to ask or where to go in order to find shadowing opportunities overseas that would allow me to learn about medicine and culture. I learned about CFHI at the UC Davis Pre-Health Conference during two lecture sessions about global health (one anecdotal and one from the program on ethics) and I knew immediately that this program was what I had been looking for. Dr. Jenny was even kind enough to exchange her contacts with me for a one on one zoom call where she talked to me and my friend for 2 hours about all our concerns post-COVID. The program even granted me the Community College Scholarship to help my family with the cost. I learned quickly the best way to reach the staff is by email pre-departure, though information on logistics could be more readily available, sooner released, or clearer. The application and training is very straightforward. The entire month in Puerto Escondido passed by too soon. I loved my clinic placements! The doctors, nurses, “chemicos,” and entomologist I met were all willing to teach and they are super sweet. I definitely find that you need to be willing to step out of your comfort zone, ask questions, and come in with an open mind. Anything I asked was answered in detail. Clinics themselves had a limited scope of practice focused on prevention, metabolic disease, and there was a lot of visits on women’s health, mostly prenatal care and family planning. Between the clinics and Spanish class, I learned how Mexico organized their medical care in the public sector, public programs, culture, and from many conversations with medical professionals and my professor, what is working and what needs to be done. The medical staff, including Dra. Isabela the Medical Director, even helped me learn in depth about violence against women in Mexico (an issue I want to address in the future as a doctor). When when things were slow, the doctors would explain the procedures we had done and taught us to take blood pressure (of course only taking hers and a fellow CFHI student to practice). In terms of the homestay, I was blessed to be placed with a sweet older lady who cooked bomb foods, mixing it up with traditional stewed meats to steamed veggies and rice when my roommate had gotten sick. The host sister even invited us to her birthday, took me out my first few days, and everyone made sure we got our conversations in. This being said, the experience is what you make of it and what you put in, you get out. For me, it was everything I could ask for. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.