So today I set off for a month long program with the Colline Foundation called the Haiti International Clinical Apprenticeship Program (HICAP) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. With some persuasion from one of my best friends, Truce, I've decided to keep a blog of my experience to share with anyone who wants to read it and for me.
When I left my sister’s place this morning at 4am, I was filled with excitement and apprehension. Excitement because I was finally going to be able to shadow physicians in Haiti. After all of the tours to the Partners in Health hospital in the central plateau of Haiti, I finally get to go behind the curtains in my bright yellow scrubs. With that thought though came an uneasy feeling. Would I be taking advantage of the patients in the hospital? Too often I’ve seen students with no medical training operating on Haitian patients. I often wondered how they would feel if the roles were reversed. Would they let a premed student with little to no medical knowledge operate on their family member? At the same time, I get it. As premed students we want the experience that gives it that edge in order to one up the next premed student. Where do we draw that line though and it left me wondering would I become one of them for the sake of the experience?
A couple more hours and we’ve made it to the house where we’re
going to be staying for the next month. Not gonna lie, it’s a pretty sweet
setup. Everyone seems cool and excited. After a dip in the pool and a couple of
games of spoons, we had our orientation. We discussed the do’s and don’t. Essentially,
the talk was if you can’t do it in the states, you can’t do it here. Afterwards I felt a lot less apprehensive about the impact that our role as
non-medical personal in a hospital setting. I’m excited to see what this next
month holds in store for me! Can’t wait to share it with y’all.
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