Global Medical Brigade for Greece Refugee Crisis

I am going on a trip as a member of Seton Hall University’s Global Medical Brigades to Greece in May 2020 to aid the current Syrian Refugee Crisis. I will be assisting healthcare professionals who will be providing medical assessments and treatments to patients currently in refugee camps as a student volunteer, or Brigader. The Refugee Crisis began in 2015 and there are currently over 65,000 refugees currently in Greece. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) supports refugee families by providing refugee camps, also called Long Term Accommodation Centers, to achieve stability, safety, and comfort for families in need. These centers can hold anywhere from 200 to 8,000 residents within them, making them crowded and the need for health services within them essential. Furthermore, even though the UNHCR provides refugees with cash assistance wages, there remains a pressing need for the provision of high-quality medical care to refugees who cannot afford it and are underserved.

As a Global Medical Brigades student volunteer, I hope to challenge myself to go outside my comfort zone and to inculcate the values of altruism, service, accountability, integrity, respect, social responsibility, empathy, and continued compassion for others no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status. Furthermore, I am both highly aware of and a large proponent of the need to break down social barriers and stigmas as well as physical barriers that prevent individuals from getting access to proper health care services. Through this brigade to Greece, I could reach professional goals like expanding my knowledge of global healthcare systems, developing my interpersonal skills with adult and pediatric patients, and learning the intricacies of patient treatments from triaging to medical consultations to community education. As a volunteer for Global Medical Brigades, I will join the largest student-led movement to ensure that communities across the globe receive the healthcare services and medical education they deserve.

Global Medical Brigades is a division of the nonprofit health and sustainable development organization Global Brigades that works to reduce global inequalities and promote sustainability in communities. Global Medical Brigades emphasizes the importance of building sustainability in the communities they aid with the intention of helping communities to become fully empowered and independent after five years of continual support. Due to their nonprofit status, the cost to go on a trip with this organization is the responsibility of the volunteer. With your help, I can be able to reduce the financial burden that this trip presents and be able to join the community of student volunteers, community health workers, and medical professionals that inspire, lead, and secure a brighter tomorrow across the world.



NOTE: The attached video is about a previous medical brigade, as there does not currently exist an official video about a medical brigade experience for Greece. The information and insight into the services performed during a medical brigade, however, remains the same. Thank you once again for your support; it is greatly appreciated!