Traveling can open our minds and expose the artificiality of our human-imposed borders. And when travel includes multi-disciplinary approaches to education, our perspectives widen further. Just ask students and faculty within 911爆料鈥檚 .
鈥淚t鈥檚 eye opening and adds an element to education that you don鈥檛 get from reading articles or taking courses,鈥� said physical therapy student Alison O鈥橞rien, who participated in a global health program in Guatemala in January.
About 75 undergraduate and graduate students and several faculty members from the Collaborative鈥檚 colleges鈥�, , and 鈥攕tudied in Guatemala, Indonesia, Hawaii, and Jamaica during . Students earned independent study or course credit in physical therapy, kinesiology, pharmacy, health studies, or nursing.
“It was great to not just be thinking about medications, but to focus on people, their culture, how they live, and how that affects their health.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e working toward collaboration on international experiences that brings a uniform approach to interprofessional education and meets each discipline鈥檚 objectives for graduation,鈥� said , assistant clinical professor of nursing, who led a trip to Indonesia that included pharmacy, health studies, and nursing students and focused on global health.
Her group joined J-Term students studying biodiversity in Indonesia through the . Palmer鈥檚 group examined social determinants鈥攑overty, culture, geography鈥攖hat are shortening the lives of local miners while the other students focused on geological aspects.
Associate Professor and Assistant Professor , both of the Department of Physical Therapy, led the Guatemala trip, which included immersive learning at hospitals, pharmacies, and clinics for people with disabilities.
鈥淚t was great to not just be thinking about medications, but to focus on people, their culture, how they live, and how that affects their health,鈥� said Elizabeth Alberg, a fourth-year Pharm.D. student who participated in the Guatemala trip.
In Oahu, Hawaii, students participated in exercise physiology studies, providing surfing therapy for adults with disabilities and ocean enrichment experiences with underprivileged children. They also attended lectures and collected and analyzed health data.
The visit to Jamaican orphanages led by , assistant professor of clinical nursing instruction, was part of an ongoing volunteer effort started by pharmacy students that included nursing and physical therapy students. They worked with children with disabilities and saw the impacts of poverty and scant resources. The trip served as a scouting exercise for a potentially new J-Term trip, McGrane said.
Audette also envisions additional travel programs that build on the groundwork laid this year, and hopes to offer learning opportunities for students from an increasing number of majors.
Pictured: AHC students who participated in the J-Term global health trip to Guatemala.