Making big impact on community health with little to no training

I traveled with a group of 13 other friends from my university to volunteer with Maximo Nivel's medical campaign in Cusco, Peru. Only one of fourteen had formal medical training, and we were only going to have five days of volunteering ... so I wasn’t really sure how much of an impact we’d help make on the communities we’d work in.

Just in the first day of our medical campaign, however, that doubt was broken. Despite our group's lack of medical training and short time in country, our group took the initiative to learn from the doctor to provide screens of patients’ health statuses and support one another in running an efficient, educational, and impactful medical campaign.

We saw nearly 200 patients in just our first morning – many of whom would not otherwise visit the doctor due to lack of insurance and/or money to do so. By the week's end, we had seen around 1,000 patients. I had never imagined we'd be able to make such big impact, but we couldn't have done that without the awesome support and friendliness of the Maximo Nivel staff.

Especially if you'd be traveling with a group, the medical campaign is a great way to meet locals, practice your Spanish, get practice with basic medical screening, and make positive impact in lives of so many people. And the scenery, culture, adventures and people in and around Cusco are some of the best you'll ever meet.