Organization:
Global Brigades USA
Chapter:
Medical Brigades at Oakland University
Chapter:
Medical Brigades at Smith College
Chapter:
Medical Brigades at the University of Maryland
Chapter:
Medical Brigades at UCLA
Chapter:
Medical Brigades at UIUC
Chapter:
Medical Brigades at University of Colorado-Boulder
Chapter:
Microfinance Brigades at Soka University
Chapter:
Public Health Brigades at Chapman University
Chapter:
Public Health Brigades at Illinois Wesleyan Univ.
Chapter:
Public Health Brigades at UC San Diego
Chapter:
Student Leadership Conferences
Chapter:
Water Brigades at Chapman University
Chapter:
Water Brigades at St. Louis University
Website: http://uclaglobalmedicalbrigades.wordpress.com
Phone: 714-743-5677
Search this Chapter
Organization: Global Brigades USA
Program: Medical Brigades
About Us
Medical Brigades at UCLA is a chapter of Global Brigades, the world's largest student-led global health and sustainable development organization. The UCLA chapter systematically works with more than 300 other university groups around the world to deliver and implement one of nine skill-based programs that benefit more than 130,000 Honduran, Nicaraguan, Panamanian, and Ghanaian community members annually. Global Medical Brigades develops sustainable health initiatives and provides relief where there is limited access to healthcare. Each community receives a brigade every 3 to 4 months where hundreds of patients are treated and volunteers deliver public health workshops. Electronic patient records are collected for future visitations and to monitor overall community health trends.
Medical Brigade volunteers will set up temporary clinics in pre-identified communities in Eastern Panama to provide health care where access is limited. Each community receives a brigade every 3-4 months. Students on the brigade are given the opportunity to shadow licensed health care professionals while learning about local Panamanian culture. A typical Medical/Dental Brigade clinic consists of six stations: Intake, Triage, Consultation, Dental, Charla (health education), and Pharmacy. Electronic patient records are collected during the brigade to ensure patient follow-up as well as to monitor overall community health trends. Between brigades, the in-country team maintains relationships with the communities to provide follow-up and conduct community health worker training aimed at empowering local leaders to perpetuate a consistent level of health care. For every student who volunteers on a Global Medical Brigade, sixty patients can see a doctor who otherwise would not be able to.
Global Medical and Dental Brigades in Ghana work alongside each other on a 10-day long brigade in under-resourced communities around the central region of Ghana. Each medical and dental brigade incorporates a public health portion at the end of the 4 clinical days. The 10-day medical and public health brigade provides volunteers with the opportunity to make a tangible impact on communities while gaining hands-on experience in the field of international medicine. Prior to travel, volunteers collect medicines, recruit health professionals and fundraise. Once in Ghana, the team will visit one partner community to administer a 3-4 day-long clinic and conduct health workshops. During clinical days, community members are able to consult doctors and dentists, fill any necessary prescriptions, receive necessary dental care, and sit-in on health education lectures. At the end of the medical portion, volunteers then have a chance to build public health projects to address some of the environmental health issues. Public Health construction includes latrines, eco-stoves, and water filtration devices.
