One of the best kept secrets in Caribbean Medical Schools | Trinity School of Medicine | Community service

Mid-summer is Carnival season in St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and at this time of year, the streets are packed with visitors and locals enjoying the cultural experience that is "Vincymas." Against this backdrop, Trinity's American Medical Students Association (AMSA) chapter held a series of clinics in the Vincentian capital city of Kingstown. The clinics provided health checks and continued the ongoing national project of addressing the two primary chronic health concerns in St. Vincent: hypertension and diabetes. Read on for student insights, local comments, and a gallery of our students in action in this vibrant time!

Earlier this month, the Trinity student group Kid Companions had their most recent visit the Bread of Life Orphanage and the St. Benedict Children's Home to hold the tri-annual carnival for the residents of both facilities. 

The Bread of Life Orphanage is a home for Vincentian orphans with HIV and AIDS. The St. Benedict Children's Home serves local orphans with a wide array of special needs. Kid Companions strives to bring additional light and consistency into the residents' lives, through both adaptive play at regular carnivals and through material donations, as well as labor at the sites themselves. This particular carnival represented the culmination of several ongoing projects to upgrade the games and prizes for the events, as well as some extra donation efforts. Read on for the full story and for a short gallery of the day's fun.

Last month, Vincentian organization Islandwide Fitness asked the Trinity chapter of the American Medical Students Association (AMSA) to support The Glow Run, a local 10k running event with thousands of participants. Islandwide Fitness has a state goal of addressing two chronic health issues that trouble the island of St. Vincent, hypertension and diabetes. So in addition to promoting physical fitness itself, they had Trinity students on scene to perform blood glucose and blood pressure checks. 

Last week, the members of the Trinity Kid Companions held their annual children’s carnival. For those unaware, the event is for the residents of the St. Benedict Children’s Home and Day Nursery as well as the neighboring Bread of Life Orphanage. The children living at these homes are primarily orphans with a wide array of special needs.

While the student group works with the residents of the home year round, the carnival is a next-level day for everyone involved. The residents enjoy a long afternoon of fun, games, and other adaptive activities with their adult companions from Trinity School of Medicine. Read on for the story of the day and gallery.

Per the Pan American Health Organization and World Health Organization, chronic, non-communicable diseases are a major factor in managing public health in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  Ranking high on the list are the diseases of hypertension and diabetes.  Government campaigns have been created and executed through the Ministry of Health, Wellness and the Environment as well as the addition of the medical clinics around the country.  It's working, too. Over time citizens are taking greater and greater action in knowing their relevant medical data and taking steps to manage or correct as needed. Trinity's AMSA chapter is taking part in a unique way, to combine patient interaction skills with community outreach. 

Earlier this month, Trinity School of Medicine conducted physicals for seventy student athletes at the St. Vincent Girls' High School prior to the high school's annual sports meet. The initiative was instituted after discovering a previously unknown condition in one young woman, and provided valuable pediatric experience for Trinity's students.

 The second World Pediatric Project scoliosis mission for 2017 took place last week at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital in Kingstown and, as is typically the case, Trinity students were right there with the visiting team. Over sixty children were seen, nine of which ultimately had complex surgical procedures performed by the visiting team comprised of pediatric orthopedic surgeon Dr. Robert Tuten; Dr. Mike Estes, pediatric anesthesiologist; Dr. Joanna Horstmann, pediatric orthopedic surgeon; Erin Rose, neurophysiologist; Cathy Rosenbaum and Mary 'Debbie' Walton, both OR nurses. 

Trinity students were on hand for eight spinal fusions and a hard ring adjustment from a prior procedure. Five of the families were flown in on a private charter from hurricane ravaged Dominica to the stability and care of St. Vincent. 

The World Pediatric Project's (WPP) 10th visit to St. Vincent of 2017 turned out to be incredibly busy for the volunteers and, as is often the case, Trinity students were right there with them. 

Last week, president Daniel Khashchuk and vice president Brian Coffey of the Christian Medical Dental Association (CMDA) visited three institutions around St. Vincent, each concerned with the care and welfare of the island nation's most vulnerable citizens, delivering material donated by a jointed effort between the CMDA and the Canadian Medical Student Association (CaMSA). 

The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Red Cross Society was first stop.  Ms. Julia Simmons, speaking on behalf of the SVG Red Cross, lauded the effort of the Trinity student organizations.  “This is great and these students are true humanitarians. These donations [ed. linen, toiletries, food, water, medical supplies] are tools of survival that are often on the wrong end of necessary compromise for the people we serve.”  She said that items like water are given to preschools and daycare centers, as her organization strives fulfill its mandate of serving the most vulnerable first.