Global Impact Corps: Global Health Volunteer Abroad Experience
http://www.uniteforsight.org/volunteer-abroad
Impact: 1.6 million patients have received quality care by local eye doctors, including more than 66,000 sight-restoring surgeries since 2005.
Locations of Year-Round Programs: Ghana, Honduras, India
(volunteer for 7 days, 15 days, 20 days, 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 10 weeks, or more)
Who participates? Students and professionals interested in public health, international development, medicine, or social entrepreneurship.
What do Global Impact Fellows say? “The nearly 3 months I spent with Unite For Sight in Ghana were among the most inspirational in my life. The Ghanaian doctors, nurses, and support staff are an incredibly devoted, knowledgeable, and gifted group of healthcare providers and health educators, and the Ghanaian people welcome visitors to their happy, happy homeland with open arms and bright, wide grins. The Unite For Sight model of pre-departure training combined with on-the-ground volunteer work cannot be beat for anyone interested in ethical global public health and healthcare delivery. What’s more, as a veterinarian (DVM, MPH), I am daily surprised to find myself benefiting from lessons I learned while volunteering with UFS: from cross-cultural interactions in my clinic, to improved health education, to sitting back and appreciating when things run on “GMT” (Ghana Mean Time). I cannot recommend this program more highly.” –Bonnie Price, Global Impact Fellow. See more volunteer accounts at http://www.uniteforsight.org/volunteer-abroad/volunteer-accounts
What do Global Impact Fellows do? Global Impact Fellows support and learn from the partner clinics’ talented medical professionals. Through hands-on, structured training, Global Impact Fellows gain a comprehensive understanding about best practices in global health and social entrepreneurship, and they receive a Certificate in Global Health & Program Delivery.
Global Impact Fellows come from very diverse backgrounds, including those interested in public health, medicine, international development, social entrepreneurship, and the social sciences. Global Impact Fellows work with local doctors to eliminate patient barriers to care for patients living in extreme poverty. They assist with patient education, visual acuity screening, patient intake, distributing the glasses and medication prescribed by the local eye doctors, and other important support tasks. They also have the opportunity to observe the surgeries provided by the local doctors. Additionally, Global Impact Fellows may participate in the Global Impact Lab, an optional program for those interested in pursuing global health research. For example, current Global Impact Fellows are pursuing research studies about medication management, the use of visual resources for patient education, traditional medicine practices, and patient barriers to care.
See the complete details and the online application at http://www.uniteforsight.org/volunteer-abroad
