One of the best kept secrets in Caribbean Medical Schools | Trinity School of Medicine | village doctor

Earlier this month, a group of second year Trinity students and faculty physician-supervisors traveled to Georgetown, the most northerly town on St. Vincent. They worked with the Rotary Club of St. Vincent to take part in a Village Doctor Exercise, bringing medical care to under-served communities in the small island nation. Trinity students have worked with the Rotary in this capacity for years, as the event aligns the school's culture of global health outreach and clinical experience. Read on to learn about what student responsibilities entailed and what both they and faculty thought of the day.

Trinity School of Medicine students have assisted the Rotary Club of St. Vincent in its Village Doctor exercises around the islands for over five years. The Village Doctor exercise is the flagship program of the Rotary, and it sees a number of healthcare specialists and volunteers traveling to areas within St. Vincent and the Grenadines that are medically under served, conducting clinics and providing medication. 

Areas of St. Vincent and the Grenadines have minimal access to medical specialists and equipment. Fortunately, these areas are served through partnerships like the one forged by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Rotary Club and Trinity School of Medicine through the Village Doctor exercise.

On the most recent trip, the community of Fancy (the most northerly residential area on the eastern side of the island of St. Vincent itself) welcomed a caravan of vehicles full of medical professionals and Trinity students with the major aim of providing medical care and provisioning (or, where necessary, re-provisioning) of life saving medicines.