Students and faculty help patients in Jamaica

By Bryce Johnson •

Paula Anderson, assistant dean of faculty and alumni affairs and associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine, started the annual Jamaica Medical Outreach trips in 2000. On the most recent trip in December 2024, she was able to provide care for people in her mother’s hometown.

“My mom is actually from St. Mary where we provide care, but we never provided care in her neighborhood, and this time, for the first time, we actually did it in her community where she grew up. So that was kind of special for me personally,” Anderson said.

The Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine hosts medical outreach trips to Jamaica every summer and fall. Around 50 students and faculty provide care for Jamaican residents, which can include medical, optometry, pharmacy, dental and nutritional.

Nardia Aldridge, associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, is originally from Jamaica and has been going on the trip for eight years.

“I fell in love with just the opportunity, one, to give back to my country. Two, to be able to just serve a different group of people, because the individuals we see on the trip, they don’t have easy access to healthcare, whether it’s due to finances or geographical location,” Aldridge said.

On one of the trips, Aldridge remembers an older woman who had to use a bucket for a toilet, so she brought her a bedside commode. On the last trip, Aldridge gave a woman with low back pain a pair of sneakers to support her feet, and her pain stopped right away.

“It’s not medication. It’s just a pair of shoes. Things like that are some of the great memories but also why we keep going back as well,” Aldridge said.

Elizabeth Swann, director of Interprofessional Integration and professor in the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences, went on the trip in December. She enjoyed seeing how the students interacted with and learned from the community.

“Think of a medical clinic. We went to a church or a community building, and we set up medical clinics and we saw 300 patients. The students did outstanding. We had some great cases, some simple cases,” Swann said. “It was very, very exciting to see the students work, to see them integrate into the community and for me to see them act interprofessionally.”

Mikayla Dunn, graduate student in the Occupational Therapy doctoral program, enjoyed the unity of different cultures and professionals during the trip.

“Not only did we care for the patients that came in, but we were also out running around with the kids and playing games with them and giving donations like shoes and clothing,” Dunn said. “People came back and showed their gratitude just with what they had, like food and crops and things that they may have not been able to give away.”

Alexis Alexander, graduate student in the Occupational Therapy doctoral program, is Jamaican and started her graduate program in May. She said going on the trip gave her useful insights about her program, especially in regards to mental health, and gave her the chance to learn more about her culture.

“I was able to talk to [a patient] and she was telling me her mom passed, and then from the different tips that we gave her for management of her coping skills and different things like that, she basically told us that talking to us about medicine kind of changed her life a little bit,” Alexander said.

Maya Ewan, graduate student in the Doctor of Pharmacy program, is also Jamaican. She remembers helping a patient with high blood pressure on the trip.

“My pharmacy team, the medical team, and even the triage team were able to give her this great care and lower her blood pressure before she left the site for that day,” Ewan said. “I felt again, that gratitude from the patient for what we were able to do for her that day.”

The College of Osteopathic Medicine hosts medical trips that go to other places, like India and Ecuador. The cost for students to go varies between $1,000 to $3,500.

“I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to go on any international trip. Right now, I focus on Jamaica, but the university has so many different opportunities pertaining to international service learning and it’s great if students are able to do that,” Aldridge said.