Sample Itinerary and Clinic activities
SAMPLE ITINERARY
Saturday: Arrive at airport. Greeted by MEDLIFE employee who provides transportation to hotel. Rest of day free to settle in at the hotel and surrounding area. Group meal in the evening followed by a presentation on what to expect for the week and a brief training course on our Mobile Clinics.
Sunday: First “tourism” day. May include tour of the city and/or visit to nearby tourist site (Examples: Lima: Tour of “old city” sights downtown. Riobamba: Visit nearby scenic town of Guano to taste traditional Ecuadorian cuisine). Participants free to shop, eat, etc., over the course of the day. Final preparation meeting following group dinner Sunday night.
Monday - Friday: Wake up at 6:30am, breakfast at 7:00, depart by private bus at 7:30. Travel time to community anywhere from 30 min to 2 hours. The Mobile Clinic is hosted at a different community each day of the week. Upon arrival, participants set up the Clinic (raising tents, helping doctors and dentists prepare their workspaces, stocking the pharmacy, etc.) in advance of arrival of patients.
Each day, students are divided into groups of 3-5, with each group managing a Clinic “Station” (See STATIONS DESCRIPTION below for more information). Groups are divided so that students have a chance to participate in each of the stations over the course of the week.The clinic will typically operate from 9am to 3-5pm (30 minute break at noon for lunch). The number of patients seen each day can range from 50 to over 200. Patients may be seen by a primary care doctor, a dentist, and/or a gynecologist, and we offer medication from our pharmacy free of charge. MEDLIFE staff and nurses are on hand during the clinic to note any patients that may require follow-up care after the Mobile Clinic week ends. Bilingual participants and/or MEDLIFE staff will function as translators as needed. Following the final patient visit, MEDLIFE will sometimes provide a local speaker from the community (community leader, local doctor, former MEDLIFE patient, etc.) to meet and talk with the group.
On some Mobile Clinics, MEDLIFE also arranges a community development project for students to participate in throughout the week (often a construction project such as building stairways for hillside communities, or a new bathroom for an elementary school). Each day, 5 participants will be selected to work on this project, alongside a MEDLIFE staff and members of the community itself. The community development project not only provides a concrete contribution to the well-being of an individual community, but it also allows participants to forge relationships with locals from that community.
Return home with 1-2 hours of free time before dinner. Talk briefly about how the day went – special patient stories, any supplies/medicine that are in low supply, suggestions for improvements. Hang out in the hotel for the rest of the night. Depending on how the group feels, MEDLIFE staff may accompany participants out to go shopping or visit local sites in the evening. On Friday night participants will be invited to join MEDLIFE staff for salsa dancing at a local discoteca.
Saturday: Second “tourism” day. Full day of tourist/shopping activities. (Example: Riobamba: Visit town of Baños to see the Pailon del Diablo waterfall and a local crafts market. Tena: Travel to Amazon wildlife refuge. Lima: Travel by bus to the dunes of Ica for sandboarding. Cuzco: Visit famous ruins at Machu Picchu.). Meals may not be covered on this day.
Sunday: MEDLIFE staff accompanies group to airport. Travel home…
Post Mobile Clinic: MEDLIFE will keep participants informed about patients seen during the week that we follow up with, as well as development projects that we engage in the communities visited. Often, participants will have the option to fundraise towards specific projects in the communities they have seen first-hand.
STATION DESCRIPTION
Throughout the week, participants rotate through the following Mobile Clinic stations, typically spending a full day working at each.
Education: One of MEDLIFE’s goals in our Mobile Clinic program is to educate our patients regarding their own health so as to enact a sustainable shift leading to better health practices. At the education station, 4-5 participants will be in charge of engaging in multiple forms of patient education, with a focus on children’s education. This currently consists of two methods: Showing projected educational videos to different groups of patients based on subject matter, and delivering personalized instruction to groups of children regarding how to brush their teeth and the importance of doing so.
Shadowing a Doctor/Dentist/Gynecologist: Participants will shadow our staff of local doctors, dentists, and gynecologists in pairs. Most of our doctors have some command of the English language, and if not, we will divide up shadow groups so that a bilingual participant will be present to translate.
Triage / Vital Signs: Participants of the triage group are responsible for taking vital signs of all visiting patients. This includes height, weight, blood pressure, temperature, pulse, and breathing rate. We recommend that participants familiarize themselves with the techniques involved in recording these vitals to minimize the need for instruction during the clinic.
Pharmacy: Group of participants responsible for staffing our Mobile Clinic pharmacy. Station will be supervised by MEDLIFE staff to insure no mistakes are made.
Patient intake (bilingual participants only): Group responsible for recording patient history forms for all incoming patients.
Community Development Project (not available on all Mobile Clinics): Each day, 5 participants will be selected to work on this project (such as constructing a set of concrete stairs for a hillside community, or building a new bathroom for an elementary school), alongside a MEDLIFE staff and members of the community itself. The community development project not only provides a concrete contribution to the well-being of an individual community, but it also allows participants to forge relationships with locals from that community. Participants should bring clothes that they don’t mind ruining with exposure to mud/concrete.
