Global Medical Training

“It was unimaginably useful for determining my interest in health.”

Destination: Managua, Nicaragua

Trip Organizers: Ali Tafreshi ’15 ([email protected]) & Caitlin Conlon ’15 ([email protected])

The Experience

In this year’s Global Medical Training Break Out Trip, Williams students had the chance to form a team with local physicians, translators, and other personnel from the group Global Medical Training (GMT) in order to medically serve communities in Nicaragua. Students set up impromptu clinics in impoverished rural areas and saw roughly 200 patients each day who would otherwise have no access to medical care. Trip members took patients’ medical histories, asked them about their symptoms, and worked in the capacity of a medical assistant as they worked alongside the local physicians in the diagnoses of the patients. Participants also facilitated the logistical operations of the clinic and enjoyed working with students from other colleges that were also teaming up with GMT.

Participant Quotes

  • “I think we provided invaluable health care to people that did not have many resources, while gaining our own invaluable work experience in the process.”
  • “The trip allowed me to learn about the intricacies of delivering care to underserved patients in another part of the world.  I could have never learned what I did without actually being on there on the ground with the medical team.”
  • “It was unimaginably useful for determining my interest in health.”
  • “My perspective on healthcare and medicine has changed because I [witnessed] health disparities in another country.”