Students from the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine at Campbell University will visit Ghana, on Africa’s western coast, in early June.
It’s the second time Campbell medical students have served in Ghana, which has a population of nearly 33 million.
“The goal is to give the students as much exposure and experience as we can,” says Kristin Johnson, administrative director of Community and Global Health.
The Campbell students, along with faculty and staff, will land in the capital, Accra, and then travel inland to establish a home base. The trip is June 4-16.
“Each day we go out and do clinics in various communities, villages, which are a bit more remote,” Johnson says. “Many villages do not have regular access to healthcare hubs in neighboring cities, so we work in collaboration with the local hospital and University of Health and Allied Sciences School of Medicine and Public Health in Ghana to make that happen.”
Students will set up clinic stations, as well as a pharmacy.
“We set up primary care clinics in these communities to make a connection for those villagers,” Johnson says.
Campbell medical school global outreach trips are planned for the Dominican Republic in October and Guatemala in December. Medical school students also stay busy during the summer setting up clinics about once a month in local underserved areas. This includes places such as Siler City, Raleigh, Dunn, Goldsboro and Durham.
The med school regularly utilizes its mobile clinics throughout Harnett County and other rural areas throughout North Carolina.
Students who go to Ghana and other outreach destinations are volunteers.
They’re students,” Johnson says, “who have a heart to do more outreach, and who definitely want to be able to experience it overseas in different capacities.”