Program Reviews

My time in Kabale, Uganda was spent with the Kigezi Healthcare Foundation KIHEFO specifically in the general clinic. I am a medical student and found the clinical component of my program to be very educational. There was also a cultural component as staff made sure to share their traditions, heritage and history. Time was spent in the surrounding villages providing health care and educational seminars as well.

The program provides ample time for tourist activities like safari and sight seeing. Overall the program was very structured and planned out to provide a safe and comfortable experience. This is especially beneficial for those who are traveling abroad for the first time.

February and March are the perfect time to go to India. There are festivals like Holy, and the weather is not too hot or too cold.

The living accomindations: You stay in an apartment with a care giver that makes two meals of traditional Indian Cuisine. So, yes when there are noodles on the table for breakfast, it is breakfast. The shower or lack there of is a traditional bucket bath. I personally brought a 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner so it was quick, but you get clean.

The experience: when I went in I had pre-conseved notions about the program based on the videos the program makes you watch and how it is descibed on the website. I thought it was going to be a more hands on experience. For example, I thought we were going to learn a lot about a program and then teach about condom use, or water safety. This was not the case. Instead, it was more of learning about the organization and then asking questions reguarding the presentation. There were two times I felt I was actually helping. First, was at a homeless children's drop in center. You help them with math and English. (I went back after my program finished, because I had a couple extra days) Second, at the week stay out of Delhi; we made a presentation to better the organization. So, If you want to learn about mantaining a non-profit and other aspects of the working of health programs this is a great exerience. If you are looking for a more hands on experience, I believe another sight would suit you better.

But, India was amazing! I would love to go back :)

I simply loved this program. I actually went with four other medical school classmates, but I appreciated that we each had such separate volunteer and clinical experiences. I'll start with the educational experiences first. I really learned a great deal from my Spanish instructor. I think learning the medical terminology in Spanish was extremely useful for the following 2wks of my program, and when I reached the clinics, I was able to at least converse in simple sentences. The volunteering experiences were unparallel. Multiple programs offer the standard experiences of helping build homes or playing with children, but in Quito, I actually felt like I was directly affecting childrens' lives in a unique way. I helped volunteer with a group that promoted safe childhood safety from domestic violence and child trafficking. To really speak to the children, we put on a play about when to say no to people and strangers.
Next, to speak of my clinical experiences: my time in the Maternidad wards, as well as the general medicine clinic, actually helped me decide to focus a career more on internal medicine than on OBGYN---a decision I had been confused about for years. Other positives of the program? The culture. the location. the weekend trips. We visited Mindo, Ecuador, a wonderful and beautiful reprieve for my friend who was suffering from altitude sickness! We participated in canopying and rafting galore. We also ate such great foods---starches, perfect soups, and great quality meats. Overall, I was very satisfied with my trip and would recommend this program to everyone.

This past March I participated in CFHI's Amazon Community and Indigenous Health program, which brought me to Ecuador for the first time in my life. My experience was one of personal growth, adventure, friendship, and broadening of the mind. Our first week was spent in Quito - a large beautiful, but culturally rather bland city (coming from a snooty native San Franciscan, mind you). The intensive spanish helped refresh my spanish and prepare me for the challenge of adapting to the various dialects I would encounter throughout my trip. My time spent shadowing a doctor in the emergency clinic was full of excitement, and I left with a better understanding of the routine of admitting and examining a patient. At the end of the first week we took advantage of the days off in Baños, a cool little adventure/eco-tourism town in the cloud forest of the eastern Andes. We had a large group of students from the program in town together, so we had a blast getting to know each other while enjoying the attractions the town has to offer. The next three weeks of the program were spent in and around Puyo, a larget town of roughly 70,000 inhabitants on the western edge of the Amazon. While based there, we spent our three weeks at clinics in Pitirishca, Mera, and staying with a Shuar family 12 km into the Amazon from Pitirishca. The last week in the Amazon was an especially enlightening experience. A challenging 6 hour hike through jungle mud brought us to a beautiful and humble small village tucked alongside a winding river bend. We were immersed in a world completely alien to us, and we experienced the lifestyle of a community completely in tune with their natural environment. Gustavo, our Shuar host and guide, lead us through his world and shared with us his peoples culture and practice of natural medicine. It was an experience I will never forget, and one I will be hard pressed to replicate.

CFHI provides a nice organized introduction into big issues in health care in Uganda and East Africa. If you have any interest in HIV/AIDs, tropical medicine, maternal child health issues, food insecurity and undernutrition, you will learn from this program. Even better, you learn almost exclusively from Ugandans while there. Their vision for health and progress in their country is awe-inspiring and the CFHI program is a wonderful opportunity for students to both participate and contribute as they work on meeting their goals. Healthcare in Africa is extremely complicated, but the doctors and medical workers I learned from in Uganda have cultivated an ability to step back and see the big picture. They helped me to see how interconnected all of the pieces of healthcare are. One patient in particular drove this home for me--we treated a young malnourished child with HIV on an outreach day in a village, then brought her back to town to treat her malnourishment with refeeding and engaged her and her mother in a program to teach them to improve their farming practices and access to food near their home. I was so impressed with the capability of a clinic with minimal resources overall to tackle these gigantic problems in such a holistic way. I hop that after seeing such great examples of program planning and implementation that I will be able to take some of that forward into developing my own clinical practice in the future.

I attended the Reproductive Health Program through CFHI for 8 weeks in Oct-November 2010. I initially chose this program because I had a strong background in Women's Health and health outreach; my career goal going into the program was to do diagnostic imaging (Radiologic Technology, Ultrasound).

My 2 month experience in Quito, Ecuador was rich in so many ways. On the daily, my favorite parts were the conversations (Spanish only) and stories shared between my host mother and I, purchasing Mote from our neighborhood food vendor (Mote is corn and potatoes= Quechua comfort food), and my rotations through the clinic or hospital assigned to me that week.

Not only did I learn a TON of Spanish at the language school provided through CFHI, but I learned how to best communicate with the locals in Quito simply by participating in the social scene. I made a few friends in the city who took me to art museums, quaint neighborhoods with hip scenes, hikes up volcanic peaks and concerts in the park. There are several artisan markets in the New and Old sections of Quito that provide local goods and crafts and offer the perfect opportunity to practice your Spanish.

The medical rotations really expanded my awareness of the education level and cultural attitudes toward reproductive health in latin america. I was allowed to interact more with patients during exams and visits the better my Spanish was, so as it improved over the weeks I was getting a whole lot more experience that enhanced my ability to be a healthcare practitioner. Currently i am a registered Radiologic Technologist, having just graduated from an x-ray tech program. The knowledge and insight I gained from immersing myself in Ecuador's health system for 2 months greatly affects how I interact with my patients here in the states, for I am more aware of cultural beliefs and customs re: health that I was ignorant to before attending this program.

I can't say the program aided me in developing hands-on techniques because I was studying diagnostic imaging, but what I took away from it was a wealth of understanding and new perspective on healthcare in a country with varied funding and social approaches to healthcare than what we have in the U.S. I highly recommend any program through CFHI because what you gain while you're there and what will stay with you as a healthcare provider cannot be quantified in monetary terms. It's worth it!

This past April I participated in the CFHI Maternal and Child Health program in Pune, India. The experience from the day I was accepted into the program until the day I returned from India was wonderful. CFHI kept in contact with me throughout the many months before the program began. I received program information via mail and email, and felt very comfortable heading out to Pune.

I was the only person in the program during that month, but the program directors in Pune and in the States made sure that I was doing well throughout the entire trip. I felt very supported during my time over there. Each morning I met with the program director to discuss either the rotation I'd be going to that day or some interesting cultural information about India.

The rotation was set up so that each week I worked with a different obstetrician or pediatrician in both hospital and outpatient settings. Every morning I would go to the hospital or office and observe the physician during their normal day of clinic or hospital rounds. I was even able to assist in a few surgeries and deliveries.

I also was able to work in a rural clinic outside of Pune during my third week. The rural clinic was one of my favorite experiences. On the morning that we went there we picked up four residents from the local medical college and drove about 3 hours outside of the city. The mountains were beautiful and it felt wonderful to be outside of the noise and busyness of the city for a while. When we arrived at the clinic a crowd of people were already waiting there for us. I was able to work with both a pediatrician and an obstetrician during the morning. We saw over 60 patients, and by the time we were finished we all were exhausted, but satisfied that we were able to see everyone who came.

I enjoyed talking and spending time with my host family as well. They made sure that I had more than my share of the great Indian food, and was able to experience many of the wonderful places around Pune on my evenings and weekends off. I am grateful that I was able to participate in an Indian wedding, climb one of the nearby mountains, see multiple temples throughout the city, and visit the historical Buddhist caves. Coming home after my four week stay I can say that I feel more informed both about the health care system and the culture of this beautiful country. I can't wait to return.