Medical students bring aid, supplies
Shyam Patel
Issue date: 5/15/09 Section: News
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Molly McStravick, Ethan Payne, Ashley Tyrrel and Zach Masi will make the 37-day trip, which begins with a flight to Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. There, the crew will meet up with Mbwelle and, with a van full of medical and educational supplies, head out to rural, less developed parts.
"[We will be] giving free consultations, distributing educational supplies to schools … and performing some surgeries," McStravick said.
Mbwelle will perform surgery at night, while educating the locals in areas such as nutrition and performing other non-surgical practices during the day.
"I read in one of the documents that Mbwelle sent us, that in the past, they have only had enough school supplies to distribute to the top students in the class," McStravick said. "We are hoping to raise enough money so that all the students we encounter get free materials."
Materials needed for educational purposes include pencils, crayons and notebooks.
According to Masi, the crew needs more donations despite several already made by doctors. The donations are for medical and educational supplies for the villages. The actual trip is funded by the crew members themselves.
Masi said he was pleased that endoscopes had been donated, as the region doesn't have a basic surgical apparatus.
"In Cameroon, if you want to have stitches, you need to bring your own thread, so anything will do," Masi said, referring to donations.
The crew has many expectations for this expedition. They said they hope to see tangible gains with regards to the public health by the end of their time there in addition to inspiring future DUCOM students to engage in similar undertakings. This is the first time Drexel students will go to Cameroon and Masi said he hopes it will help make Drexel "a big foreign services school."
An overarching goal is to achieve sustainability locally by educating the natives. There is also a goal to achieve sustainability in terms of inspiring future medical students to come to Cameroon so that Mbwelle may have a steady source of volunteers each year.
The estimated cost for each individual is $3,000. Though the cost of travel takes up the largest margin of this expenditure, other fees include food, immunization and lodging. In order to cut cost, the crew plans to live in hostels. As for immunizations, they are required a number of shot including those for yellow fever, typhoid and polio.
The crew believes the trip will be a lot of fun, despite all the work to be done, and could not be more excited.
"It is a great chance for me to get to put to use some of the things I've been studying," Masi said. "We have lots of energy and we are psyched to get this thing going."
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