Experience of a Lifetime!

Help, Learn, and Discover turned out to be the most life changing month of my life. I participated in the June 2015 pre-medical program as an aspiring medical student entering my third year of my undergraduate degree. I would highly recommend this program to any student considering a career path in the medical field.

The "Help" component of this trip involved a volunteer project where we partook in building 20 houses for families in Pujili, Ecuador. It was a great experience to work with the very welcoming members of the community to build the homes that they will eventually be living in. The most eye opening experience was seeing the current living conditions of these families. The community members that are selected for this program live in extreme poverty and the children often have to miss school for a multitude of reasons. It was amazing to see how our fundraised money and building efforts could change the lives of these families and allow the children to receive a better education. The work was definitely physically demanding and exhausting but the impact we were able to make on the lives of the community was very rewarding.

The "Learn" portion of the trip allowed us to shadow in many different areas of medicine. These areas included surgery, emergency, paediatrics, radiology, internal medicine, and sports medicine. We also learned advanced CPR, how to stitch, and how to draw blood. This program definitely consolidated my passion to pursue a career in medicine. The tutors that taught us during the medical rotations were absolutely incredible. They were very knowledgable, informative, and were always willing to answer any questions. I learned so much and experienced lots of hands on involvement during the week of medical rotations!

The "Discover" part of this trip did an excellent job of capturing the beauty and diversity of Ecuador. We explored areas in the highlands, rainforest, jungle, and the coast! All of the accommodations were excellent and I felt very safe in the hands of the amazing leaders Juan and Jose! Everyday was packed with amazing activities while still giving us enough time to relax and enjoy the company of the amazing people on the trip who become your family for the month. During our exploration, we were able to go waterfall rappelling, horseback riding, hiking, surfing, tubing, and so much more! There is no way to describe the beauty of the country and the amount of fun that we had as an HLD family.

I loved every second of this trip and highly recommend it to anyone interested in medicine. This program flawlessly captured the Help, Learn, and Discover aspects and is definitely a trip of a lifetime!