{"id":39456,"date":"2018-09-06T09:23:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T13:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=39456"},"modified":"2018-09-06T09:23:18","modified_gmt":"2018-09-06T13:23:18","slug":"seven-weeks-in-peru-ct-assist-awards-fund-student-explorations-of-health-care-delivery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/seven-weeks-in-peru-ct-assist-awards-fund-student-explorations-of-health-care-delivery\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven weeks in Peru: CT Assist awards fund student explorations of health care delivery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three Eastern Mennonite University students preparing for careers in health professions observed healthcare delivery in Peru this summer on a trip funded by the CT Assist Health Experiential Learning Program.<\/span><\/p>\n

They \u2013 and other students who completed STEM research and internships this summer \u2013 will share about their experiences in the first of the fall semester\u2019s <\/span>Suter Science Seminars<\/span><\/a>, at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 12, in the Suter Science Center room 106.<\/span><\/p>\n

For seven weeks, biology majors Sylvia Mast, Xavier McCants and Maria Yoder shadowed and accompanied health care providers in village and urban settings, took Spanish classes and learned about Peruvian culture through homestays. They were accompanied for two weeks by professor of biology <\/span>Kris Schmidt<\/span><\/a>, who previously lived and worked in Peru and facilitated their travels.<\/span><\/p>\n

The CT Assist Health Experiential Learning Program<\/a> awards funds to pre-professional health science students at EMU to support clinical experiences that help prepare students for professional health programs. The three recipients this year \u2013 Sylvia Mast, Xavier McCants and Maria Yoder \u2013 each received the maximum amount of $2,500.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
The trip to Peru strengthened Sylvia Mast’s goals of being fluent in a second language, culturally aware and attuned to proaction in healthcare. (Photo by Andrew Strack)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sylvia Mast<\/b><\/h3>\n

Mast, who plans to become a physician\u2019s assistant, said the trip provided opportunities such as measuring blood pressure, finding a baby\u2019s heartbeat using ultrasound, centrifuging blood and typing bacteria.<\/span><\/p>\n

Navigating medical terminology and seeking to understand the procedures she was seeing required Mast \u201cto give myself grace in my limited understanding and to be unapologetic in my ignorance\u201d \u2013 \u00a0and \u201cto live with humility and use that humility to foster curiosity,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe culture of a community dictates the way healthcare is administered,\u201d she said. That could mean using the appropriate language \u2013 perhaps switching from Spanish to Quechua \u2013 or prioritizing people\u2019s needs over strict adherence to an established schedule.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Sylvia Mast administers deworming medicine in Vito, Peru. (Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On an \u201cabnormally chaotic\u201d morning in one clinic, Mast observed an appointment that exemplified how though the clinic was a busy place, staff prioritized their patients\u2019 needs: A mother and a nurse had set out to find a needed medical device for a sick baby, leaving the baby with its grandmother in the exam room. Meanwhile, the next patient \u2013 another mother \u2013 was brought into the same room. When she saw the sick baby crying, she shared some of the milk she had brought along for her own child. While sometimes at the cost of efficiency or organization, a patient visit to this clinic often became a communal effort with doctors and neighbors and strangers working together to solve a problem. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
\u201cI will remember this experience always,\u201d said\u00a0<\/span>Xavier McCants of his “eye-opening” time in Peru.\u00a0(Photo by Andrew Strack)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cObserving the healthcare system in Peru has only strengthened my desire to become fluent in a second language, culturally aware within my own community and constantly attuned to ways that the system can provide proactive intervention in establishing a healthier community rather than solely reacting to repetitive problems that arise,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Xavier McCants<\/b><\/h3>\n

McCants, who also plans to become a physician\u2019s assistant, said that the hospital setting, with its outdated or nonexistent technology and insufficient equipment, was particularly \u201ceye-opening.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

From a doctor he learned about the impact of Venezuelan migration on Peru\u2019s healthcare providers: \u201cAll of these people need help but there is not enough equipment,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it is hard for the doctors taking in all of these individuals without many resources.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The cross-cultural experience took McCants out of his comfort zone and prompted him to approach service with \u201cgreat sensitivity,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Xavier McCants administers medication in Vito, Peru. (Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI genuinely wanted to learn everything I could from the Peruvian culture. I wanted to get the full experience of trying every food possible, listen and dance to their music, and just see the world from a different point of view. I have been able to see how much I take for granted,\u201d said McCants. \u201cI will remember this experience always.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It also made him want to offer help \u2013 and therefore more zealous for future studies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing so much and not being able to help was frustrating,\u201d he said. \u201cKnowing I was underqualified and was strictly just shadowing has increased my willingness to want hone my craft!\u201d At the same time, he said, he learned that \u201cservice is not always \u2018doing,\u2019 but rather being present and accompanying individuals in a task that needs to be done.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Maria Yoder observed \u201ca more relaxed sense of time and communal living\u201d in the health care system in Peru.\u00a0(Photo by Andrew Strack)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maria Yoder<\/b><\/h3>\n

Yoder, who hopes to pursue psychology and neuroscience, also observed the culture of care even as she felt the challenge of \u201cseeing all the differences between the Peruvian system and the U.S., and thinking about what I could learn from the system rather than how to \u2018correct\u2019 it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

That system sometimes appeared \u201cchaotic,\u201d with patients waiting in long lines, and doctor visits where staff, and occasionally a stray dog, moved in and out of the room, she said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes a patient will walk into somebody else\u2019s appointment because they have an urgent question,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it\u2019s demonstrative of a more relaxed sense of time and communal living in Peru. I also can\u2019t imagine how rigid and white-washed a visit to the doctor\u2019s office in the U.S. would feel if you were used to this system.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the small village of Vito, Yoder observed the difficulties of accessing advanced health care: Lima is a 21-hour winding, bumpy bus ride away \u2013 a trial for village women with complicated pregnancies. She also noted the carbohydrate-rich diet of subsistence farm crops that leads to health problems such as diabetes, anemia and malnutrition.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
(From left) Sylvia Mast, Xavier McCants and Maria Yoder present about nutrition in Vito, Peru. (Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And she realized that all health norms are not always culturally relevant. In Vito, the students prepared and gave \u201chealth chats\u201d at an elementary school and with mothers in the community. They had considered including the World Health Organization recommendation to cage animals in order to reduce parasite risks, but decided against doing so.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three Eastern Mennonite University students preparing for careers in health professions observed healthcare delivery in Peru this summer on a trip funded by the CT Assist Health Experiential Learning Program. ... read more about Seven weeks in Peru: CT Assist awards fund student explorations of health care delivery<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":39460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5590,17562,17571,7682],"tags":[17637],"feature":[17427,17423,17426,17241],"class_list":["post-39456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biology","category-digest","category-internship","category-suter-science-seminar","tag-kristopher-schmidt","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-featured-undergrad","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nSeven weeks in Peru: CT Assist awards fund student explorations of health care delivery - 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