PT Medical Mission Trip

[rmaddre]

Hello all,
I am a current first year PT Student and will be taking a medical mission trip (through Palmetto Medical Initiative) in May of this year to Uganda.
I am looking for any advice from others that have taken any medical mission trip as well as leaving my fundraising link here (tax deductible) if anyone would like to help me afford the expense of the trip.

Thanks in advance!

https://bos.etapestry.com/fundraise...dividual.do?participationRef=1171.0.107874087

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[rmaddre]

I know this was ignored the first time, but I figured I'd bump it up again for a last ditch effort!

 

[deleted671726]

This is really great and I wish the best for you!

I personally do not have any experience with medical mission trips, but I know a friend of a friend who is actually a long-term missionary PT in Uganda. This is her blog if you wanted to check it out. I am sure you could email her too if you had any questions or just wanted to chat!

http://lauracapp.blogspot.com/

 

[kcrat21]

I did a medical mission trip my second year of PT school! We volunteered at a stroke camp in a rural area of Jamaica! My advice would be to really try to absorb as much of the advice you get from your mentors as possible. I felt so out of my element when I went bc we had no real patient experience at that point but the mentors were amazing! It's really a chance to start figuring how to become your own clinician and put things into practice in a stress-free/not graded kind of way. Immerse yourself in the culture and get to know your patients and how to adapt your treatments to their cultural beliefs, this will be really beneficial to you in the long term with your culturally diverse patients in the future throughout your career. Ask the tough questions, be compassionate, be empathetic, soak it all in. And enjoy your time there! It's about way more than delivering PT services....

Also, just a tip, don't call Uganda (or any other country) a "third-world country". Please call it a "developing country"...

 

[pass-npte]

HI
kcrat21, can you refer the organization that you volunteered from?

 

[kcrat21]

The trip was through Duke and the organization only affiliates with DPT programs as far as I know, so if you are interested, you'd have to get your DPT program to get involved! It's called FORU.