University of California (UC), San Diego Medical/Architecture Brigades June 2015 Honduras

Start Date: Jun 15, 2015 12:00 AM
End Date: Jun 24, 2015 12:00 AM

Global Brigades offers 7-9 day Medical Brigades throughout the year in Honduras, Panama and Nicaragua. During a Medical Brigade, volunteers have the opportunity to take vitals and patient history in triage, shadow licensed doctors in medical consultations, and assist in a pharmacy under the direction of licensed pharmacists. Each of our partner communities receives a brigade approximately twice a year. Between brigades, our in-country team maintains relationships with the communities to provide follow-up and to conduct Community Health Worker (CHW) trainings to empower local leaders to sustain a consistent level of healthcare. Electronic patient records are collected for future visitations and to monitor overall community health trends.

Global Brigades offers 7-day Architecture Brigades throughout the year in Honduras. The Architecture Program strives to improve in-home infrastructure and economic production in Global Brigades’ communities by designing and constructing small scale or in-home projects such as chicken coops, roofs, and additional rooms that will enhance community members’ health, quality-of-life and income. By improving their homes, community members can better prevent disease and maintain a positive mental state. Similarly, families choosing to build infrastructure for economic ventures that can generate more income, which could theoretically be used to independently enhance their living space. These important projects are both designed and built by student volunteers in collaboration with community members on their 7 days trips to Honduras. Students volunteering on Architecture Brigades participate in either infrastructure design or constructions. On the initial Design Brigade, they consult with community members and draft blueprints for the in-home infrastructure or small-scale economic development projects sought by the family. On subsequent Build Brigades, students construct the projects alongside skilled Honduran masons and community members and ultimately create the in-home infrastructure needed to improve health, quality-of-life, and income. Student volunteers teach community members the construction techniques necessary to maintain the projects and ensure that they will continue to serve local families well into the future.