I’m sitting on my porch enjoying my last morning in Roatan. We had a big storm last night, so today is humid but painfully beautiful as the skies are once again their inviting light blue. I can’t believe how fast these two weeks flew by and, although I’m excited for what’s next, I am sad to be leaving this peaceful, natural paradise.
I’ve become a little complacent about the DEET recently and have been rewarded with my fair share of bug bites, conveniently located on my joints for increased discomfort. So I suppose I’m taking a little piece of Roatan home with me (though hopefully not a lot of Roatan home with me in the form of dengue or malaria). I’m happy to report that my GI problems finally resolved, just in time for me to leave. I think my body has adjusted to life in Roatan just in time for my mind to re-adjust to a bustling life in the States.
My two weeks here have been simply amazing. Being surrounded by passionate health care workers, both locals and foreign volunteers, has reinforced my desire to become a physician and given me incredible insight into future career paths in international health. The physicians I’ve worked with give so much of themselves to the community, not just doing everything possible for the children coming into the clinic, but dedicating their extra time to community projects - teaching at the public schools, doing health screenings at the daycare, teaching English in the community. Even during off hours, it seems that all we talk about is improvements to the hospital, teaching efforts, community projects, acquiring meds for a specific patients.
In working with the leaders of Global Healing for the past two weeks, I have learned invaluable lessons about nonprofit work in the developing world. It is not simply enough to have the desire and the financial means to effect change; an organization must understand the existing system in precise detail and embrace the personalities and politics that it contains in order to make sustainable changes. Global Healing does just that by collaborating with hospital directors and leading teaching efforts in various hospital departments. Last weekend’s Surgical and Trauma Conference at Anthony’s Key Resort was a huge success, and the weekly Grand Rounds continue to be well-attended by hospital staff.
I feel very fortunate to be part of the Global Healing team, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to keep working in such a passionate and professional group. Returning to the RVPC as a medical student, I feel the same enthusiasm and hope I felt as an undergraduate. It has truly been a refreshing and inspiring two weeks. I wish I could stay longer, but I know I will be back again in the not-too-distant future and can take these lessons back with me in the meantime.
