GMB volunteers will head to Panama and Greece in May to provide healthcare assistance and health education workshops
Have you ever wanted to create positive change in the lives of those facing healthcare insecurity? If so, joining a local medical brigade might just be your opportunity to do so.
Guelph Medical Brigades (GMB) welcomes all Guelph students who are passionate about global health. According to its fundraiser webpage, “Guelph Medical Brigades is a chapter of Global Medical Brigades, an international movement of students and medical professionals working alongside local communities and staff to implement sustainable health systems.” There are over 400 chapters of the Global Medical Brigades operating worldwide.
U of G biomedical sciences student Fatima Rahman had the opportunity to join a medical brigade in 2019. Her experience was very positive, and she says that being able to participate in the brigade was “amazing!”
“I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Panama in 2019—before the pandemic—and it was truly an eye-opening experience,” Rahman told The Ontarion. “It was incredible to be able to engage with a community in such a meaningful way and to be welcomed so warmly.”
Rahman is currently the president of the GMB, which was formed in the fall of 2018.
She leads and directs the executive team in organizing events and fundraisers, increasing volunteer recruitment, and creating fun opportunities to learn about global and public health. She also assists and oversees the process of planning and preparing for brigades and telebrigades—which are annual capstone experiences. The Medical Brigades’ website says that a telebrigade allows student volunteers to virtually take part in a mobile medical clinic in a developing country by livestreaming with doctors, observing their interactions with patients, and then asking the doctor questions afterwards.
While in Panama, Rahman engaged in health practices, worked with health informatics, and ran community health education workshops. She says she appreciated the fact that the brigade operated ethically and promoted teamwork.
“Knowing that my volunteer work and the organization I was working with was ethical and well-informed was very reassuring, and was consistently proven to me throughout the brigade experience,” she said. “The added bonus was that it was so fun! It felt exciting to be with a group of students who were just as dedicated as I was and we all supported each other as a team.”
Since its creation in 2018, GMB has organized several brigades, including one in Panama in 2019, two in Honduras in 2020, and one in Ghana in 2021. Any student or community member can attend the brigades.
Every three to six months, medical brigades will work in remote, rural, and under-resourced communities that would otherwise have limited to no access to healthcare, states the Medical Brigades’ website. These include locations such as Panama, Honduras, Ghana, Guatemala, and Greece. Panama, for example, has 1.6 doctors and 0.31 dentists for every 1,000 people.
“GMB as an organization works with communities in developing countries; the goal of those communities is becoming fully self-sufficient, having an independent healthcare system, and functioning without the need of any external assistance,” said Rahman.
In order to help them achieve these community goals, brigade volunteers participate in a number of clinic days, during which they provide assistance to local doctors as they perform their duties.
For example, brigaders might help by recording patients’ personal information in a data informatics system, sterilizing dental equipment, helping to screen patients for vision problems and giving reading, distance, and sunglasses, organizing children’s public health education workshops, helping to fill prescriptions, and providing patients with information about their medications.
With the amount of responsibility they have, volunteers have to be trained in ethics before departing for the brigade, says Rahman.
“As a chapter we want to make sure that every volunteer is ethically and appropriately participating in the brigades. We are not a chapter that promotes or is related to voluntourism.”
The issue of voluntourism has become a hot button topic in recent years, as it can often do more harm than good to vulnerable communities.
According to World Vision, “The term voluntourism is a combination of the words volunteer and tourism. It is also sometimes referred to as volunteer travel or volunteer vacation. Voluntourism is a form of tourism in which travelers participate in voluntary work, typically for a charity.”
Although those who engage in voluntourism usually have good intentions, they can be inexperienced in the work that they are assigned to do. They may also use up precious local resources, fail to spend adequate time learning and understanding the host country’s culture, and take jobs away from locals.
In order to avoid voluntourism, Rahman says GMB prepares its volunteers in a number of ways.
“[We] go through ethical practices, our goals in relation to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, social media practices, and health informatics workshops. We also prepare our brigaders by having language workshops (the communities we visit can sometimes speak an alternate primary language), medical case study events, and cultural workshops to inform our students about cultural practices and norms in the countries we visit.”
Preparations have already begun for GMB’s next brigade, taking place in Panama. It is scheduled for May 8 to 14, 2022.
According to Rahman the brigade is almost at full capacity, with eight out of 35 spots left for anyone who is interested in attending. In addition, as of March 2, the group has already managed to raise $7,425 of its $84,665 goal through its fundraiser webpage.
Funding for each brigade’s programs, leadership development, and administrative costs come mostly from fundraising efforts, states the Global Brigades’ website. Each respective university chapter of the Global Medical Brigades runs its own fundraising campaigns, although they may also receive some funding from local governments.
“All proceeds raised will be donations going towards funding medical supplies, medications and pharmaceutical supplies, and health resources for developing communities in Panama. They will also be used to assist our brigade volunteers with meeting their personal donation goals to attend the brigade,” said Aparna Karthikeyan, a neuroscience student at U of G and GMB’s head of finance.
In addition to the Panama brigade, GMB’s fundraiser webpage also lists another open fundraiser for a different brigade, happening at the end of May.
“Fatima and I will be leading a Greece brigade from May 28 to June 4, 2022. On this brigade, participants will shadow local health professionals, assist with patient referrals and facilitate workshops with community members to further educate and advocate for healthy practices,” Karthikeyan told The Ontarion.
As of March 2, $18,342 has been raised towards Greece’s $53,561 goal, and there are six out of 20 spots left for anyone who would like to attend.
Karthikeyan says GMB will be working specifically with vulnerable populations and refugees on this brigade, so she is excited to gain a new perspective on public and global health.
As for GMB’s future, Rahman says she is looking forward to having more brigades running in the years to come.
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