Measuring the Pulse of MCV Campus

VCU School of Medicine Reaches Out To Other Nations

Last June, while most of his peers enjoyed their summer break, first-year VCU medical student Vibin Roy spent much of his time sweltering in a tin-roofed shack in Honduras, identifying and treating illnesses such as gout. For him, the trade off was worth it.

Roy’s experience was provided by HOMBRE – the Honduras Outreach Medical Brigada Relief Effort – which takes first-year students rural areas to treat patients and teach them about medical care. Honduras is a developing country in Central America bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

"It was an incredible experience that provided memories that will stay with me the rest of my life," Roy said. "My experience in Honduras reaffirmed my decision to go into medicine to help those less fortunate."

HOMBRE is a nonprofit organization that works with VCU’s School of Medicine. It has previously only made trips to Honduras, but this year, plans to expand its operations to the Dominican Republic. The HOMBRE experience not only takes place in a unique setting, but provides students with a distinctive learning opportunity.

"The vast majority of programs like this take residents and more senior students," says Patrick Mason, a faculty adviser who has traveled to Honduras with students for the past five years. He adds that the trips, which last from 10 to 12 days, provide special learning tools for the students.

"Most of the time, faculty and students are on about a two to one ratio, with students often receiving one on one time with specialists," he said.

One of HOMBRE’s major goals is to provide lasting medical relief to the Honduran community. Due to a lack of clean water, safe food sources, and a general lack of medical knowledge among the community, HOMBRE faces many challenges.

"We do not want to simply provide a band-aid, where we treat the acute disease but do nothing to prevent it in the future," Roy said.

Students see an average of 250 patients a day, who must be diagnosed and treated with the minimal technology available.

"In Honduras, you’ll often see illnesses that have progressed long past where we’d allow them to get in the U.S.," Mason said. "Or even conditions that simply don’t exist back home. My first trip (to Honduras), I treated a woman who was covered in monkey bites."

In addition to medical knowledge, however, HOMBRE offers students a new outlook on their profession. They experience the world-view of medicine.

"Life in medicine is more than what you’d just see in Richmond," Mason said. "Here, we’re saying, ‘take medicine, and you’ll be fine.’ Down there, they’re saying, ‘try to find clean water, I hope you’ll be okay.’ It’s a completely different world."

For students like Roy, the experience is gratifying.

"The people of Honduras were incredibly grateful for our work, however I think we were more grateful for the opportunity to learn from them," he said.

Overall the program seeks to create a better global community of doctors who are interested in aiding these areas.

"We want people to understand that global help is a viable career," Mason said. "There’s no doubt that it’s incredibly rewarding."

For more information on HOMBRE and other VCU School of Medicine programs, please visit www.medschool.vcu.edu/community/.

The following articles - written by VCU Journalism Students - examine the medical school's legacy, student life, programs, buildings and future. All students are from Professor Bonnie Newman Davis' MASC 303 Newswriting Course. Loren Pritchett assisted in editing the articles.