Page 31 - COM Outlook - Spring 2013

31 COM Outlook . Spring 2013
Each morning, after an early but multifarious Vietnamese
breakfast, the NSU-COM group and the Vietnamese staff
loaded two small vans for the 45-minute ride to our clinic site
for the day. Our drivers carried us through the sea of motor-
bikes, over bridges that we prayed we would make it across,
and down narrow, palm-lined roads in the river delta. When
the bridges and roads became too small, the van would stop
short, and the group would carry the equipment across the
foot bridges to the buildings we would use that day.
Upon arrival, the group was greeted by dozens of pa-
tients who sat patiently for their name to be called. All the
patients were deemed underserved by the government and
were issued an invitation to be seen by the American doc-
tors. The group worked quickly to set up each of the five
stations that would be staffed by a preceptor, a translator,
and two students. Each half day, the students would rotate
between triage, pharmacy, the medical lab, or one of two
internal medicine stations.
As the patients began to pour in, it was apparent we
were as foreign to them as they were to us. With the help
of our translators, we were able to bridge the cultural and
language gap and obtain the information we needed for
proper diagnoses. Along the way, we picked up some
basic words such as “Xin chao,” which is hello, and “dau,”
which is pain in Vietnamese. With patience, perseverance,
and willingness to reach beyond our comfort zones, we
successfully diagnosed and treated many very grateful
citizens of the Ben Tre Province.
The NSU-COM medical outreach team saw over 1,300
patients during the remaining seven medical days in a
variety of locations, including open-air clinics, local com-
munity centers, and a home for the elderly and infirm. The
students took advantage of every opportunity to learn from
an amazing team of preceptors. Dr. Laubach and his wife
taught each of us how to do diagnostic lab testing in the field
such as hematocrit, blood typing, acid-fast stains, choles-
terol, urinalysis, blood glucose, and more. Dr. Snyder shared
with us his knowledge of internal medicine and nephrology,
while Dr. Trif pointed out rare medical conditions seen only
in the footnotes of pathology books. Each student was able
to completely work up each of his or her patients, includ-
ing history and physical, labs, and prescriptions, as well as
perform OMT—all under the guidance of our preceptors.
The hands-on patient contact and variety of conditions
seen in Vietnam will prove invaluable as we finish our
second year of medical school and begin hospital rotations.
However, the trip was not limited to working and seeing
patients. Our Vietnamese friends ensured we absorbed as
much of the culture and region as possible with a boat trip
down the Mekong River, visits to various local markets, din-
ners out on the town, a tour around Ho Chi Minh City, the
war-relic Chu Chi Tunnels, and occasionally, a party or two.
Some of our friends invited us to their homes to get to know
their families while sharing spring rolls and dried squid.
Henry Miller, an American writer and painter, once
said, “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way
of seeing things.” This notion rang true through every
experience during our trip to Vietnam. By immersing
ourselves completely into this foreign environment, we
were forced to shed our insecurities, our prejudices, and
our learned behaviors. What we gained is a new perspec-
tive on ourselves, our world, and our career in medicine.
We learned that in spite of what history or politics may
tell us, we are not so different after all.
The student and physician participants of the 2012 med-
ical outreach trip to Vietnam would like to extend a special
thank you to Joy My Lien Degenhardt, director of Vietnam
programs with Aid for Kids, and all of her hardworking
translators and physicians who made this trip an incred-
ible success. We would also like to thank the NSU-COM
International Medical Outreach Club and especially Robin
Jacobs, Ph.D., M.S.W., associate professor and director of
international medicine, for without her hard work and
dedication, this trip would not have been possible. And of
course, we would like to thank our preceptors who worked
tirelessly to share with us their expertise and compassion.