News Detail
Students on a Mission in El Salvador
08/25/2011
Six St. John Fisher College students and one faculty member traveled to La Union, El Salvador, with a group of 42 other medical professionals and students as part of Global Health Outreach (GHO).
Dr. Melinda Lull, Assistant Professor in the Wegmans School of Pharmacy, led the group that included: pharmacy students Nicole Vaughn, Casey Utter, and Meredith Bodah; nursing students Jenny LaVigne and Melina Seaman; and recent graduate Kaitlyn Yarussi, a former biology major who graduated this past May.
Together, the group ran a five-day medical clinic offering free medical, dental, physical therapy, and psychiatric care, as well as an eyeglass clinic and a pharmacy. The group treated almost 2,000 men, women, and children.
At the clinic, the pharmacy group was responsible for overseeing the pharmacy and filling over 300 prescriptions that came in each day. In addition, they distributed vitamins and parasite medication to each patient, as well as antibiotics, cold, allergy, and pain medications, among others. The Fisher pharmacy students shadowed physicians to experience patient care from a different point-of-view. The nursing students spent time working in triage as well as exam rooms, where they had a lot of one-on-one patient interaction.
"Overall, the trip was an amazing experience for each of us involved," said Lull. "Being given the opportunity to use our expertise to help in an area of the world where there is so much need was extremely rewarding."
The team from St. John Fisher College.
The larger group from Global Health Outreach.