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Next Trip to Haiti: March 2012
Dr. Annette Bosworth, Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine of Sanford School of Medicine of The University of South Dakota, has created a 4th year elective course: Medical Mission Care, with support by the Department of Internal Medicine. This course strategically added the ability for faculty members to teach students on a medical mission trip in an under-served area. This December Dr. Bosworth returns to the devastation in Haiti to serve those living in the poorest country in Central America. Due to the late announcement in the academic year, Dr. Bosworth invited students to join her by offering to pay their costs. Within short order five of the 4th year medical students uprooted their schedules and said “YES!” to the challenge.
Partnering with medical students to share this mission-based experience will change these students forever.
Join Dr. Bosworth to launch this mission-driven curriculum. The South Dakota Medical Association’s 7th District (Sioux Falls Area) has agreed to match every dollar donated for this cause.
The short term goal for this trip will be to increase awareness of what a mission trip looks like through the eyes of our students. The 7th District’s generous offer to match donated funds is in trade for the students presenting what this experience was like for them at the spring meeting. The five students will be asked to give a team presentation on how a mission trip impacted their education and their approach to under-served people.
The long term goal of this mission trip is to begin a journey that cultivates the need for a strong commitment to patients no matter what their circumstances. The pride of delivering medical care lurks hidden in the motivation to serve others in the name of medicine. Our advanced medical culture loses focus on that altruistic spirit of delivering care to others without thoughts of how it will be compensated. Cultivating that experience is the long-term goal for this mission trip. Dr. Bosworth’s dream would be to lead students and faculty on mission trips to the same locations that Harvard sends their students and faculty: South Dakota Indian Reservations. Having a year-round mission on the reservations of our own state could change the face of medical care for our state. We must start somewhere. This can be the beginning of a phase of South Dakota medicine we can all take pride in. Join in – as an attending, a volunteer, a student, or a donor.
The medical members of this mission trip include: Attending: (Annette Bosworth, MD – Internal Medicine USD SOM graduate 1998), Five Fourth Year Medical Students (K. Calmus, K. Evans, L. Knoll, A. Palmer, J. Top), Physician Assistant 2011 Graduate from USD (L. Eastman, PA) Nursing Student (A. Koch, LPN), DSU Health IT Student (J. Howard), Social Work Student (M. Rall)
The cost of a mission trip:
Travel:
The international flight costs about $1000. The additional baggage fees for flights and customs
admission: $200.
In-Country Transportation:
A bus with all of its parts in Haiti for one week is $4000. If you want the air to remain in the tires while you are in your clinic, there are additional fees for a security person to watch the bus. There are also added costs for a driver that has a license to drive in Haiti (a rare find in the last year as their government collapsed and all renewals of such things were halted.) We also need to pay the driver to wait for us on the days that we don’t use the bus – or he will leave to “go find me a paying customer.” If we want air-conditioning on the bus . . . you should stay in America.
Interpreter:
Creole is the official language and has no Latin association – in other words, there is no guessing based on medical terminology or a faint-hearted amount of Spanish any of us know – all direct care positions will need interpreters. The interpreter costs nearly $100/day. We also supply their food and water. If we want them to also act as security . . . well that costs more.
Food/Water/Lodging/Housekeeping:
These luxuries are all relative when in Haiti. Housekeeping really means, “I will teach you how to keep the ants out of your sheets.” Lodging selections focus on the thickness of your roof, and the height of the fence around the structure that holds up the roof. Water is for cooking and brushing your teeth. If you want a flushable toilet . . . you should stay in America. Estimate: $250-$300/day depending on proximity to the Tarp-City.
Supplies:
This totally depends on donations and networking. This tight timeline really pushes Dr. Bosworth’s skill set to get the medications and supplies needed for the trip. Check out what she accomplished on her last trip when she traded a video-story for $5 million worth of medications: YouTube Annette Bosworth
Total: $5000 per Student
The projected impact:
Take a look at the itinerary below. In eight days of this trip, five and a half days will be in a clinic. The volume of patients reported in recent weeks from one of our locations reaches the highest seen since the earthquake. This is likely due to the government’s push to remove all tarp-cities from the Port-au-Prince area. This plan has forced the homeless to now gather in tighter quarters in the sparse number of tarp-cities left. Two of the clinic-days the team will hike up different mountains carrying all the supplies to perform a clinic. What impact will this have? . . . . priceless
