Hello! I am Madison Parker, a St. David's School of Nursing student at Texas State University. I have been given the opportunity to study abroad in Panama City. Texas State works with Global Brigades to bring affordable health care to everyone. Global Brigades staff members provide lessons and workshops to further teach students about GB’s Holistic Model, country and community socioeconomic situation, the local language, and local healthcare system challenges and opportunities, among other related topics. These speakers can include local doctors and Community Health Workers (CHWs) who are from the local community.

Some of our activities will include gathering data about the community and its population, learning to set up a field pharmacy, working in an acute care clinic in a village, learning some medical Spanish, working with and educating CHWs, learning about Panamanian traditional medicine, learning about the Panamanian healthcare system, and exploring the natural beauty of Panama. Through an evidence-based model, we work alongside local staff and community members to design and implement projects that tangibly improve lives in partner countries.

Kambia is a program of Global Brigades that sets out to transform global education by enhancing university and college curriculums aligned to the health and development work our teams implement. Global Brigades supports communities with healthcare, economic development, and clean water projects, and uniquely implements these programs in a holistic model to meet a community’s goals. Our model systematically builds community ownership and collaboratively executes programs with the end goal of sustainably evolving to a relationship of impact monitoring.

This money will help me pay for the study abroad trip.