Chrissy VanDillen recently served at the Baptist Medical Center in Nalerigu, northern Ghana, and earned the INMED International Medicine & Public Health Diploma.” “I am a medical student at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, and have been interested in international medicine and learning about all the opportunities available for physicians to help people outside of the United States. When I say opportunity, I am trying to impress upon others what a trip like the one I took to Ghana can do for an individual. This trip changed my life. This adventure forced me to think of every aspect of life and my plans for the future.”
“I was given enormous responsibility, and this made me realize what I need to learn and what my future holds. I saw Dr. Faile treating patients the best he could, even if that meant being on call every night, not eating for an entire day, and not seeing his family. The only compensation was the fact that patients were living more comfortably who otherwise might have died. His example helped strengthen my own faith in God. I would like to follow his example by working a developing nation.”
Several INMED medical students and residents come to Baptist Medical Center each year. Clinical responsibilities will normally include outpatient clinic, inpatient care, obstetrics, pediatrics, and surgery. Students will normally take night call and be responsible for select inpatients. Students are constantly under the guidance of a staff physician or visiting consultants.