UNMC Students Spent Summer in Latin America
Nineteen University of Nebraska Medical Center students spent the summer
studying community health care and Spanish in Guatemala.
The four-week course, offered through UNMC’s International Studies and
Programs, gave students the opportunity to learn about the delivery of
health care in Central America by observing and shadowing at Guatemalan
health care facilities, interacting with Guatemalan health care professionals
and taking field trips. The course, offered twice this summer, ran from
June 4 through July 2 and July 2 through July 29.
“It was a wonderful opportunity for students to experience health care
in a different way and in a different setting,” said Sara Pirtle, coordinator
of the Office of International Studies and Programs at UNMC. “It also gave
them a foundation for Spanish which is important because we need more health-care
providers who have Spanish skills to better meet the needs of our constituents.”
Pirtle organized the program along with Alfredo Garcia, M.D., an affiliated
professor of ophthalmology at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala
and the medical director of the National Centers of Ophthalmology in Guatemala
City.
Students were based in Antigua, about 45 minutes from Guatemala City,
and lived with Guatemalan families. They received individual Spanish language
instruction, as well as group medical Spanish instruction. They also volunteered
at a nearby hospital. Of the 19 UNMC students traveling to Guatemala, 17
were from the College of Medicine; two were from the College of Nursing.
Following the initial four-week course, three UNMC students traveled
to Managua, Nicaragua, where they spent one month volunteering at Los Chavalitos,
a clinic Omaha organizations helped start in 1994. The clinic continues
to be supported by various Omaha groups.
The students who traveled to Guatemala, and their hometowns, are listed
below. The asterisk denotes those students who also went to Nicaragua.
June course
*Colene Andersen Kearney
Sarah Hurd Plattsmouth
Krista Hill Lincoln
Joseph Simodynes West Point
Andrea Rasmussen Ravenna
Malinda Foxhoven Wynot
*Wendy Begg Omaha
Eric Eisenman Omaha
Kristen Moore Papillion
Elizaberth Birch Omaha
*James Seberger Elkhorn
July course
Brandon Freeman Garland, Texas
Steven Schadendorf Omaha
Kari Simonsen Glenwood, Iowa
Tina Flores Omaha
Brett Hill Omaha
Carla Mundt Omaha
Michelle Jorgensen Omaha
J. Huebert Omaha