During this month-long trip to the Himachal Pradesh region of India near the Tibet border, I will be working as part of a medical team that will hold clinics in remote villages, Tibetan settlements, monasteries, monastic schools and a nunnery located in the Dhauladhar (White Mountain) Range of the Western Himalayas. As a member of the medical team, I will be participating in administering clinical and preventive health care under the supervision of US-based and board certified physicians on issues related to personal and oral hygiene, diet and nutrition. Our team will also provide free medicines and supplies to hundreds of patients of all ages.
The area of India that we will be working within is extremely rural and is medically deeply underserved. As a member of this medical team, I will be helping to provide essential healthcare services and resources to individuals whose regular access to medical care if very limited. In addition, I will be learning from healthcare providers from the Himachal Pradesh region, gaining valuable insight into their medical and cultural customs and thus expanding my own education and appreciation for other cultures.
Much of the trip will be spent camping in harsh weather conditions, so I am eager to learn how to provide medical care in such an extreme environmental setting.
I have always been interested in global healthcare and in serving areas of the world that have limited resources. I'm excited to expand this interest into an area of the world that I have never visited before, learning about the culture, serving the population, and understanding more about the way medicine is practiced in an international setting. On a tangible level our team will collectively be able to provide care to over 1400 patients while on this month-long trip, touching many lives with our medical services and supplies.
