Bruins brigade for better health care
By Tessa McClellan
Nov. 6, 2007 9:19 p.m.
The already expansive community of student-run service organizations just got a little bigger.
Global Medical Brigades, a partner of Global Business Brigades, gained club status on Oct. 25. Both clubs are university branches of their larger international umbrella coalitions.
The groups provide international aid by sending members to set up health care clinics in and help develop the economies of poor communities in Third World countries.
Though Global Medical Brigades was only recently registered with the university, founding members formed UCLA’s chapter and began planning the first major trip two months ago.
In December, a group of 40 students and two doctors will fly to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, with medicines from local clinics, public health education materials and other triage supplies.
Volunteers and doctors will work with the Honduran nonprofit Sociedad Amigos de los Niños to set up clinics in churches, schoolhouses or auditoriums in nearby villages, said Justin Parizo, president of Global Medical Brigades and a fourth-year physiological sciences student.
Volunteers are trained in basic medical procedures such as taking blood pressure. They work with the doctors to ask medical questions, take patient vitals, organize prescriptions and show patients how to treat minor medical problems.
“We have to explain how to deal with public health issues like cleaning cuts without a doctor right there because these people rarely see doctors,” Parizo said. “After we set up, we go back to base camp and do the same in a different village the next day.”
Global Business Brigades, another group fairly new to UCLA, is also in the process of planning a trip to Honduras.
In September, 25 students and eight business professionals built a coffee shelter for the coffee farmers of El Chile.
“The building of the shelter was more than tangible proof that we are there to help. It gave them a sense of unity, a sense of power,” said Ramiro Rios, regional advisor, cofounder and former president of Global Business Brigades.
Students and business professionals will return to work with the Honduran community of El Chile in January to develop a sustainable coffee co-op that will increase profits of coffee farmers.
Club members are currently researching markets and analyzing the data acquired from surveys done on previous trips.
“We’re trying to see how the co-op can be set up to best benefit all members of society. We’re trying to take everyone, even the women and children, and get them to participate somehow to make the society flourish,” said Jessica Giffin, a second-year international development studies student.
Currently, both groups are working to fundraise.
“Right now most of the money comes out of the pockets of the students themselves,” said Oisin O’Connor, cofounder and president of Global Business Brigades.
Global Business Brigades is trying to get support from various organizations and corporations, ideally in the form of large, tax-deductible donations, Giffin said.
Members of the Global Medical Brigade are also looking for sponsors and planning potential fundraisers, said Parizo. The money raised will go to cover the costs of medicines, shipping costs and other fees.
Parizo also said he hopes that the fact that his group was recently given official status may lead to university funding.
Though the groups are new to UCLA, members are actively working to broaden their network of volunteers and to create programs outside of Honduras.
“We’re currently working with groups in other universities, trying to extend the idea of giving back through microenterprises, because giveaways are not sustainable,” Rios said. “We want to expand to other countries … we want to go to Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador. We don’t just want to stay in Honduras.”
For now, though, members of both groups are focusing on the upcoming trips.
“Honduras is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere,” Rios added. “The most important thing that people get is the satisfaction of making a difference in a very poor community.”
