Emma's Work with Global Health Leaders in the Dominican Republic

She is a San Diego native who is extremely adventurous, active, and passionate about advancing healthcare and its accessibility. She has grown up a huge traveler, so getting to take this passion beyond the U.S. for my field experience was something beyond perfect for her.

She was in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for 8 days for her field experience with Global Health Leaders. This organization advances healthcare across borders to underserved communities such as those in the Dominican Republic!

She worked with 22 other students from all around the US, and beyond, to provide healthcare in pop-up clinics for 5 days in various communities within Punta Cana. There were 5 stations that they each took a turn at: Intake, Vitals, Research, Shadowing, and Pharmacy. They would set up the clinic each day and take things down, and got to learn a ton from the Doctors on site. She learned a ton about medications, how to take vitals, how to talk to patients about their symptoms and to diagnose them, and the process of conducting research.

"Some challenges that I faced were the extreme heat and language barriers. Many people there speak either Haitian Creole or Spanish. I know a bit of Spanish, but am far from fluent. This made it a bit difficult at times to communicate, but we used online resources and translators to help with this. In regards to the heat, staying on top of hydration and food intake was crucial."

She came back from this experience with tons of new friends who she will cherish for life, and tons of lessons and memories. She got to connect with many locals in the clinics and learn about their lives, as well as explore the beauty of the Dominican Republic. She will absolutely never forget these times in the clinic and the surrounding areas, really embracing myself in the culture and way of life there. The doctor that she shadowed was really incredible and opened her eyes to what medicine in the D.R. looks like which was very eye-opening.

In her free time, she got to enjoy the beautiful beaches, go on a boat to a local island called Sanoa Island, and try lots of local cuisine which was incredible! The water was incredibly blue and warm, and was absolutely amazing! At UCSD, she thinks that GLBH111 is similar to her FE in some ways! She took that class last summer! Also, the content in all of her classes was very relative to what she witnessed in the D.R. such as the social determinants of health and structural violence.