In the Spring of 2020, I had the opportunity to travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina on a service trip through FIU Alternative Breaks. During this trip, we worked in an underprivileged community of Argentina as volunteers. In these underprivileged areas health care, unfortunately, is not widely available to the people and they often suffer from illnesses and conditions that go untreated. For this reason, our focus was to provide the community, especially the children, with basic knowledge regarding their health and hygiene that may help them in the future. We also came with blood pressure cuffs to take note and inform the people of their blood pressure, in the hope that they would seek professional medical consult in the future. In the months prior to our trip, we collected donations for the people of the community and we had the opportunity to give these out to them during our volunteer shifts. 

 

This experience was very impactful for me because I had never been in an area as impoverished as this one. It was clear to see that these people struggled In their daily lives and often went without basic necessities such as food and shelter. Many of the children wandered into the center alone, and some complained of aches and pains, that no child should need to suffer from. It was an intense experience because, although we were there with the intention of helping, I knew these people needed more help than we could ever provide in the short amount of time that we were there. I would like to believe that some of the things we shared with the people we met has helped them, even in a small way, on their life's  journey. Although many of them had poor living conditions, they still showed strength and managed to smile. Their resilience, throughout the difficulties that they face, is the most inspiring. 

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During this service trip, we also had the opportunity to visit the main hospital of Argentina where we met with doctors and learned about the Argentinian health care system. This was interesting because their medicine is very different from that of the United States. Many of the things that they considered normal, such as limited medical equipment and resources, is not widely considered as normal in our U.S hospitals. This made me very aware of the disparities that exist in different parts of the world in regards to health care and patient treatment. I learned about the type of person and physician I aspire to be, as I now see the importance of being aware of the difficulties that are faced by others and the importance of stepping out of my own comfort zone to do what I can for others, even if it is small. 

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