Empowering: How Vida Volunteer’s Service Learning Model Empowers Volunteers and Patients

This trip with Vida empowered me as a pre-med student to gain clinical experience while learning skills and techniques, diagnostic weight, and interpersonal skills with people from different cultures and backgrounds. Through the service learning model, us as volunteers empowered to provide care also empowered local people in rural communities of Guatemala, many of whom don’t have adequate access to health care. This ultimately creates an empowerment feedback loop, benefiting all involved! We also got to explore various cities, towns, and archeological sites of Guatemala that slowly influenced our interpretation of the culture around us!