Tag: KCU-COM 2022

Kenya Series! Medical Mission Trips & How To Get Started

Jambo! (Hello in Swahili).

At KCU, we have a couple of options to partake in a medical mission trip. You can be a part of the global health track (which you have to apply for and be chosen to for), you can fill out the applications that are sent out, OR you can find one on your own.

I recommend researching any mission fairly in depth. Including the ones that are offered at KCU or at your school. You should know some basic things such as:

  • How much does it cost?
  • How long will I be traveling?
  • What sort of experience do I want out of this?
  • Are there scholarships available?
  • What guidance is available to me?
  • What to I need to obtain before traveling out of the country?

For this particularly mission, I had emailed the head professor in charge of the global health track. I was curious if KCU would take students outside of the track at the time, and wanted to know some more information on the Kenya trip. A few months later, an email was sent out to all students for applying. The summer Kenya Mission took 9 students this year (more students were taken this year than in previous years). It was a total of 18 days, but our total clinic days weren’t set in stone. We personally had a great mix of clinic and additional touristy things to do. Looking back, I wanted slightly more clinic time, but the weather and other factors this past year just didn’t allow for it.

Applying

You need to make sure you have researched all potential places before applying. I emailed a lot of companies/sites before deciding to actually apply. Please be mindful with travel companies, they may try to spin a few things or sell pretty hard because they want you to pay to go with them instead of to another country with another company.

You will also need a valid passport. Depending on the time of year, it could take several months to get a passport if you’ve never gotten one before. Renewing a passport takes less time, but still takes time. If you are thinking of doing a trip, I suggest you try to tackle this way ahead of time. You can’t leave the country without a valid passport. End of story. You also likely won’t get picked for a school trip if you don’t have one either.

The KCU trip, like I stated, was an email sent out to every student with the information for how much it would cost and the application. For all other applications through specific companies, they usually have their application on their website. Most will ask you why you are interested in going and if you have any previous experience. That way if you do have some medial experience they will be more open to allowing you to use your skills.

Obviously, KCU knows how much experience you have because they have access to your profile. For KCU, you need to be in good academic standing. If you need to repeat a course that summer or you have lower than a 2.5 GPA (required GPA for any clubs or leadership positions), then you likely won’t get it.

Other than that, I don’t think KCU had too many requirements. If you do the MBA program in medical school, you won’t be able to do the summer mission trip. At least the year that I went the schedules collided. I’m not sure if the bioethics one overlaps as well with this trip. But be cognizant that you can’t do everything. And some of your previous scholastic engagements may overlap when you are wanting to do a summer trip.

After acceptance:

Filling out the application was easy. Especially if your passport is ready. It is all the additional things you need to get done to go that take up time, effort, and obviously cost $$$. Most of the vaccinations you need will be done or had to have been updated in order to be enrolled at KCU. Some will not. Here are the things that were expected of us to complete, and we were given some additional information on:

  • vaccinations
  • visa
  • specific cost breakdown
  • packing list
  • some information about your travel/specifics of what you will be doing

Majority of your vaccines should be up to date as you needed them for medical school. Unfortunately for me I needed a bunch of boosters because I hit that sweet spot of still young but my original immunity was waning. Le sigh….

So I did have to get boosters plus the additional traveling vaccinations as Kenya is endemic to many diseases that are eradicated in the United States.

-make sure you are paying adequately for the amount of time you will be gone… and if there are any additional services/experiences included. Some places are extremely unreasonable with the amount of money asked…

Vaccinations
  • Typhoid Capsules (the oral vaccination lasts 5 years and is recommended over the injection which lasts 1-2 years).
  • Malaria prophylaxis (not really a vaccine, but you do need this).
  • Yellow Fever Vaccine
  • Meningitis
  • Polio (Kenya has an endemic. You must get this prior to going. If you are going to be there longer than 28 days, you need to have it boosted right before leaving).
  • Tdap
  • Hepatitis A & B

Fun fact: if you were born before 1995 the Hepatitis A vaccine was not created yet. So even though it is now part of the mandatory vaccination routine for children, I never got it. And that shit hurts.

Yellow Fever vaccine is EXTREMELY hard to get. It is very costly, and there are limited clinics which are now able to give this out. Apparently, there were 2 factories who made this vaccine; one in France and one in the US. Well the US one shut down and has not reopened (yet). Thus, France is the only supplier for the entire world of this vaccine. Hence the hefty price tag and difficulty obtaining it. There is one clinic in KC Overland Park that has it, but call ahead of time. St. Louis, Nebraska, etc tend to have month(s) long waiting periods. As soon as you know you are going on this trip, call ahead and book an appointment with one of these places. It will be less stressful for you if you have it on the books, and will be awful if you have to cancel your trip because you couldn’t get it.

Visa

In general, the company or school you are booking your trip through should walk you through how to fill out that country’s visa. But it never hurts to make sure you have guidance if you need it. I could easily visit Kenya’s government website and had to pay $50 for my visa to be processed.

Cost Breakdown

KCU’s total cost was $4300 for the trip. This included most things: flights, lodging, transportation, food, safari, and groceries. If you wanted extra money to spend or needed more groceries/water then the allotted allowance, you would need to bring more money.

KCU also recommended you bring about $300 extra in case you wanted trinkets or if we ran across any additional touristy things. We ended up going out a few times as well; sometimes we had to pay and other times our tab was covered for us. I did not end up spending all of this money. In fact, I barely spent any of this extra money I brought. But it was good to have on hand just in case I needed it in Kenya to do something extra or in case I needed it when I got back to the States.

The last thing you need to know is you may have to spend a bit more prior to your trip on things such as your vaccinations, visa, and extra stuff when packing.

Sure, you could probably figure out how to get to your country and back for much cheaper. But if you are traveling with your school, they have to ensure all of you are on the same flights and usually are seated near one another. Because of this, flights can be a bit more.

In general your flight should be the most expensive part. But look at flights, lodging, if food is paid for or provided (and if not, how much are you expected to find for yourself), transportation, and touristy attractions. You will also need to know if the company you are with can help you exchange your money or where you can go to do that. You will want to bring extra money in case: tourist attractions that may pop up, getting trinkets and gifts to take back, tipping, etc.

Make sure that when you are looking at these costs there is a good ratio for you. If you want to only be in clinic, pick a company that only goes to clinics. If you want more touristy events and less clinic, find a company that does that.

If you feel you are being gypped, do your research on other companies to see if it is a fair price.

During my school trip we were given about 1000 Kenyan Shillings a week each. My roommate and I pooled our expenses together since we were buying water and snacks together anyways. This money was part of what we had already paid for in our trip as well. And if we needed more, we had access to exchanging American dollars for Kenyan Shillings.

Emergency Contacts

This goes without saying, but make sure you have phone numbers or a way to get a hold of the company if an emergency happens. Send your visa to the nearest embassy and have copies of your passports/visas stowed away from your originals as a just in case. If you are going with your school, they likely will have already done this for you. Make sure your school/company has contact information for your emergency contacts in case something happens to you and they have to phone home. And as always, ask about if they carry medicine on them or have a reliable hospital to take you to if need be.

Global Health Trips

Here were a few places that students have gone or where I looked into:

IVHQ. They have have many locations and have volunteer needs for much more than just medical. I had two classmates go with this company this past summer and they thoroughly enjoyed it.

Power of a Nickel. Another two of my classmates also went on this. I looked into this one, but the one place I wanted to go was a bit more expensive than I preferred and not as long as I would have liked. However, my classmates seemed to have had a blast.

DOCARE International. Here you can apply to a range of international trips. However with this, if it is through a specific school they may advertise it on the website but most spots will go with to their own student population. But it is a good place to look and see what is available and try!

Health Corps Haiti. It looks like trips last about 1 week and they take both pre-med/pre-dental and medical/dental students. They also seem to have multiple trips throughout the year. This was suggested by a upper classmate but I’m not sure how many students have previously gone with this one.

Rad-Aid. Does something with medical imaging. I’m not sure what is with this one, but it was suggested by an upper classmate.

Plan my Gap Year. This was the company I was going to go through if I didn’t get into KCU’s global health program. I found many reliable prior volunteer accounts. The only downside seemed to have been that if you didn’t know any skills they weren’t willing to teach you… makes sense. But overall there were many different places you could go at reasonable prices.

Your school! If your school has a global health tract OR has professors that are involved in global health trips, you can get in with them and tag along or apply.

Lastly…

I’m not sure how many times I have written this in this post, BUT DO YOUR RESEARCH. There were a few companies that I was completely sold on, but until I did a deep dive realized they were money scamming or were not great experiences per other travelers/students. Do your research. Reach out to other students or previous volunteers. Ask all those questions. And make sure you go with a place where you feel you will get the most out of your experience!

I hope this helps. Cheers!

I got a Nudge From the Universe Today…

Hello!

This is going to a bit more unusual of a post than what I normally post. So let me set the scene for you, and I’m just gunna jump right in…

A few weekends ago I was sitting in my favorite coffee shop in Joplin. I had just arrived and was starting to unpack all of my books and notes. I had a test the next day, and as always, was hoping to get in a few hours of productive study time. The mountain felt high, but I was hoping to chip off a little bit before the exam. Let’s call it extremely hopeful.

Yes, yes… I was that: hopeful.

I was still in good spirits, but also still feeling like I was drowning. Which is the usual feeling in med school.

In hindsight it probably didn’t really matter if I studied at all that day. But I digress.

While opening up my books, a man who had set himself up at a table nearby was walking back. He politely stopped and asked me what I was studying.

Now, I sometimes forget how friendly people are in Joplin. In Michigan, most people aren’t this friendly. And you usually aren’t approached at a coffee shop unless you dropped something or some girl wants to compliment your dress/shirt/bag. So I was a bit caught off guard.

The conversation went something like this:

“Oh, I have a really big test tomorrow, it’s on all of the cardiopulmonary system and the kidneys.”

“Oh? I have lots of people that I know that work in healthcare. In fact, one of them is a nurse. She is on dialysis…”

Hmm…Okay. Not sure why that was important. In fact, I was wondering why we were even going this direction. But alright, it’s conversation I guess.

We got to talking and I later learned his name. But for now, let’s call him M.

M eventually told me the the had interstitial lung disease which is now causing him some depression. Ah! I’m thinking, I actually know what interstitial lung disease is! I don’t know it well (even though I was supposed to know it for my last test… but hey, I know it). And before you ask “Joyce, where the hell are you going with this story?” The answer is I’m about to get there. Calm your tits. Please.

Anywho, long story short and he tells me he thinks medicine is poison.

An interesting stance. One that I obviously do not agree with, but one that I’m sure I will come across more than once in my future.

But a point that I nonetheless wanted to talk about today.

As someone who does not have a chronic illness and as someone who lives a relatively healthy life without many restrictions; I clearly do not have the same hurtles, experiences, or struggles as someone who does. I do not know what it is like to have difficulty breathing. To be gasping for air or feel like you might be suffocating on a fairly regular basis or even all of the time. I understand depression, but my encounter with that illness is different from his experience with it. Simply put, I cannot put myself in his shoes because I have absolutely no reference to base it upon.

But I can understand that he is struggling. That he isn’t happy with the cards he was dealt. And as a future physician, I need to be able grasp this.

This conversation lead me to multiple realizations:

  1. People want to be heard.

As a future a physician, it is our job to be able to lend an ear. Most patients don’t just want to be “fixed” or “cured”. They want to be heard. That their struggles are valid. That their emotions about their struggles are valid. Sometimes they just need to vent. And we need recognize that. Yes, you can say that they can be referred to someone else other than you for this. However, a part of our jobs are to have a human-human interaction. And sometimes, patients just need an our ear.

2. Perspective

I seem to be gaining a lot more of this recently. But perspective in the fact that we know what our lives are; we know our struggles, our obstacles, and what we have to do. But we sometimes don’t stop to think that our patients may have a much more difficult time doing the same things as us given their obstacles. It also reminds me that not everyone has a great experience with medicine. And with that, patients are scared, unsure, or may pushback more because of it.

3. It’s okay to disagree with our patients. Respectfully.

But it means we need to try to understand what is important to them. Their goals may be different than your goals. And sometimes as physicians we have to slightly re-align the goals to be more realistic. Other times, we just need to be on the same page.  Is their life meaningful? Can they do the things they enjoy doing? Do they still have the drive to do the things they enjoy? Can they work on accepting that it may take them longer to do a task now than it did previously? All of these are important. But taking time to just chat with your patient to get an idea of where they are at and sometimes gently nudging them or re-aligning their goals can help them immensely change their frame of mind.

4. And lastly and most importantly, we as physicians and as a medical culture need to stop being so afraid to allow death to happen.

This is the biggest thing that I think we sometimes all forget. Medicine can do many wondrous things. It can save lives, it can improve life and quality of life, and it can extend lives. But it can also extend life with the association of declining the quality of life. And that often times, we as physicians don’t do enough explaining or education that death is not necessarily something to be afraid of.

Do I want my future patients to die? Of course not! I want to give them a fighting chance when it is something that they want and it is within reasonable limits. But I also want them to know that it is okay to decline extra surgeries or procedures. It is okay to say no more. Especially if it may prolong their lifespan, but decline their quality of life.

There comes a point in someone’s life where the answer isn’t always a clear “yes, make me better so I can live longer”. When we are young or younger I should say, the answer is always make it longer. Give them a full life. But when you take someone who is chronically ill or elderly, the amount of sickness or chronic diseases start to pile up. I’m not sure our bodies were ever meant to live as long as we typically do nowadays. And as all of those start to pile up, the quality of life goes down. Sure, most of them are easily fixable on their own. Or if they had a perfectly healthy immune system getting something like pneumonia or a urinary tract infection would be easy to clear. But when put with someone who does not have a healthy immune system, it can seem like attempting to move a very large boulder that is constantly trying to squash you.

So too that, I think as a future physician myself and a lot of my future colleagues need to put our egos aside. We need to start having discussions earlier with our patients about their wants and wishes. So that when shit hits the fan, their family members who aren’t ready to let them go don’t contradict what the patient wants. Because not all family members will agree with what your patient wants. They may be selfish about what they want instead. And even just having that conversation early allows your patients to have the ability to take time and think about what they truly want. Because in some situations, it is better to grant their wishes or let them have a natural death to where they aren’t dying with tubes out of every orifice and hooked up to multiple machines. Or when their heart starts to give out, their defibrillator isn’t constantly shocking them, prolonging death and causing pain.

We also need to be better at discussing that death is not always traumatic. A lot of times, when chronic sickness takes over, your body doesn’t necessarily “kill you slowly”. A lot of times, you will go unconscious because your blood pressure is too low, or you are septic, your metabolites build up in your system, or your heart just gives out.

But it also leads me to this point…

I was sitting there having this discussion with M who I don’t know. This man who clearly wants to vent but also wants to be validated. I thought to myself: I am so wrapped up in my own problems that I forget I have a very fortunate life and situation.

As someone who just came back from Kenya, it is seriously embarrassing to admit that it only took 2 months to forget the perspective I learned while there.

But I also needed this conversation. Call it a nudge. Or maybe a little wind blew in my direction from the universe.

I needed to be reminded of where I was. That yes, this was hard, but that I was doing this so that when a patient like M walks into my office, I can have this conversation with them. That I can reassure them. Listen to them. Allow them that space.

Humans need to feel connected. In a world where we try so hard to be connected via social media, we don’t do a very good job of actually forming connections with people. I’m going to run into having patients who just want to see me to discuss that they are unhappy. To talk it out. For me to remind them or gently nudge them to find the things that they find pleasure in life with. And once that is gone, we should discuss where to go next.

I was at a crossroads in my life before this conversation. The universe gave me a little nudge to remind me that what I’m going through now won’t be the rewarding part. That what I’m doing right this second isn’t what it will be like in practice. That the conversations I have with my patients will be both heartbreaking and rewarding, but worth my white coat.

Just wanted to throw that out there today.