Fall 2008 Semester Summary - by Bryan Monier

It has been an exciting and productive semester for Frontera with the addition of 5 new MSII leaders who have each brought boundless enthusiasm and a unique vision and perspective to the organization. The new leaders for the year are Arielle Perez, Cristina Ippolitio, Dave Shahani, Kristi Pogue, and Bryan Monier. Under their guidance Frontera has been able to increase the number of trips the organization has taken allowing more students to become involved and more patients to be reached. One of our biggest goals for this year has been to make Frontera more of a campus wide organization that provides opportunities for students from all of the different schools at UTHSCSA and not just the medical school as it has in the past. We have succeeded in this respect by bringing along nursing students, physician’s assistants students, dental students, and medical students on our trips. The addition of these other students has helped foster a collaborative environment on all of our trips where students from different schools are able to share their knowledge and experiences in a collected effort to provide the best care possible. We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback about joining these students together because it better reflects the type of environment we will be working with in the future with a mix of healthcare workers from all fields and backgrounds.

The addition of students from the other UTHSCSA schools has increased the demand for spots on Frontera trips and in response we have been able to take more trips down to the border. In the fall semester we took four trips total with two trips working in Robstown and the other two in Laredo. These trips have focused on bringing health care and health education to the underserved populations living in the colonias of these areas. Frontera provided basic health screenings and physical exams along with referral information for those with more serious medical needs. Several participants on the 2nd Robstown trip were given the opportunity to visit the colonias and provide care on these home visits to those who were unable to make it to the health fair at the church. This was a wonderful experience that brought a very real portrayal and demonstration of the difficulties facing the people living in these areas. We are hoping to expand these home visits and make them a permanent addition to our Robstown trips. In Laredo we expanded our services by providing not only physical exams but immunizations and sex education as well. All of the kids who come to see us for their sports physicals are now also given a sex education and healthy lifestyle presentation that focuses on encouraging safe sex practices and positive life choices like exercising and eating right.

Each of these trips provided not only healthcare to the underserved populations of these areas but also provided a great teaching and learning environment for the students involved. First year nursing, PA, and medical students are paired with second and third year students who are able to pass on the knowledge and experience they have gained to create a collaborative environment that provides care and encourages teamwork.

In the spirit of building lasting awareness and fostering group efforts several Frontera leaders were given the opportunity to attend the National Summit of Clinicians for Healthcare Justice in Washington D.C. from Oct. 23-25. Arielle Perez, Cristina Ippolito, and Bryan Monier were given the privilege to meet and listen to some of the leading primary healthcare doctors and workers in the country. We were inspired by their tireless efforts to bring healthcare and opportunities to those who need it most, and we gained great insight into how they have overcome various obstacles on the road to providing care.

We are looking forward to a successful spring that will build on the steps we have taken this fall to create a campus wide organization that can provide better healthcare and education to the underserved areas of the Texas border. We would like to thank everyone at the Center for Humanities and Ethics for their contributions to making this a successful organization and to all of the students and doctors who offer their time and energy to attend our trips.

Robstown - February 17, 2008 by Anne Cioletti

This weekend, a rather large group of medical students of all years made a trip south to Robstown for a health fair. This being my third trip to the area, I was impressed with how much it has grown over the two and a half years. I still remember the first trip we made: we set up a few tables in a small church associated with one of the many colonias, and when the “patients” did not come to us, Mr. Lopez took us to see the colonia, getting a firsthand look at the shocking and unfathomable living conditions. At that time, we only had students eager to help, physicians willing to guide us and site in need of health care access (as well as much more). This was what we hoped would be the beginning of a new commitment that would continue to grow...

And grow it did! As we embarked for Robstown on Saturday afternoon, thirteen students and one eager pre-med undergrad from Baylor piled into three vans for the trek south. Arriving Saturday evening, we checked in our hotel and then met Dr. Smith and family at a local Vietnamese restaurant. There we had a chance to continue the fellowship and catch up with Dr Smith. After dinner, we returned to the hotel to get a restful night for a big Sunday.

The next morning, we packed the vans back up and headed off to a nearby church of which we would set up the health fair in the associated gym where we were joined by Dr Berggren and Jeannie who drove up from Harlingen. At this fair, we offered blood pressure and glucose screenings as well as a general history and physical (as we had the first time), but there was also many more outlets to offer the patients: Christus Spohn was present to allow access to a health care community if needed; AmeriGroup and sCHIP set up for insurance information; Humana came to offer free glucometers and additional information; flu and pneumococcal vaccines were offered to those who needed them; and rapid HIV screening per the new CDC protocol to screen everyone over 13 years old as well as additional testing for high risk individuals. We split into pairs, often a first-year with someone older, and began seeing patients of all ages, ranging from the second to ninth decades.

Four masses and over sixty people later (much more than our initial 20ish patients during the first trip!), we looked back on the day. There was a steady flow of people throughout the day, discussing everything from general health questions to coordinating soon follow-up. A couple of students even had the opportunity to go on home visits with Dr Campos, in order to bring medical care to those unable to come to the fair. Needless to say, each trip adds added access for care and education as well as opportunities for more students to learn and participate! I can only imagine what more will be added in the trips to come both to Robstown and Laredo! Keep up the good work and great vision!

Anne Cioletti, MSIV