As Americans, I think we can agree it is important that all humans have the same opportunities for health care that we do. As students, we can sometimes feel powerless in this issue. Luckily, there are programs, such as GlobeMed, that provide the kind of link we need to bring real help and awareness to people around the world.
After coming across GlobeMed being advertised around campus here at Penn State, I decided to do a little research into the organization (their main website is here). The approach GlobeMed has taken is similar to recent political campaigns in the sense that it's grass roots in nature. The whole plan behind GlobeMed is to get people, like us students eager to do our part while lacking direction, involved in providing health care to people in underdeveloped countries and even parts of the U.S.
How it works is each Chapter is assigned a different "partner" that they are personally responsible for alleviating some of the medical woes left from illnesses and disease that has struck the area. There are currently 33 Chapters throughout the United States at various universities including Northwestern (where the idea turned into an international reality), Princeton, UCLA, and right here at Penn State. Currently, Penn State is partnered with an organization in Chiapas, Mexico called EAPSEC which is a Spanish acronym for "Team for the Support of Community Health and Education." In places like Chiapas, a majority of it's citizens are suffering due to extreme poverty as well as political manipulation and health care issues. Without organizations like EAPSEC, the government and the area's economical state do not allow the people to reach out for help in creating a fair and equal opportunity for what we see as the bare necessities.
I found this video on YouTube telling the story of GlobeMed from it's start until now. I think it is really well put together and is good food for thought.
--Kristina van Alen
No comments:
Post a Comment