courtesy of Medical Missions Foundation
From June 27 through July 1, a team from Medical Missions Foundation in Kansas City, MO, conducted a clinic at Scheel Center. The team of 14 volunteers—led by Dr. Gary, a family practice MD from Kansas City—turned Scheel’s dental and psychological clinic into a general practice for the week. Scheel volunteers helped translate during exams.
Apart from providing some much-needed medical assistance, the mission was designed to be a learning experience. Medical students from Kansas University and other schools had ample opportunity to practice checking vitals, making an initial diagnosis, and reporting back to the head physician. All of this, working around a language barrier.
In total, the team saw 171 patients.
“Whenever you get a big group of people together who haven’t previously worked together, that’s a difficult situation. The potential of error is always there, that just comes with communication, but it’s especially high when people meet and work together for the first time, in a foreign environment, for a limited time only, and juggling two languages to top it off,” Scheel volunteer coordinator Reinhard Prosch said. “Some may have gotten more than they expected during one medical exam or another, but it ended up being an invaluable experience for everyone involved, students, volunteers, and patients alike.”
