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A group of students from Bronx’s Monroe College brought their skills to the Dominican Republic recently as part of a program to provide health care services to needy and poverty-stricken areas abroad.

The 13 students spent 10 days traveling by van through the villages of the Dominican Republic, and along with local physicians and two Monroe College professors, tended to over 750 residents in need. They screened villagers for diseases, gave out medications when necessary, and provided information on nutrition and preventing chronic illnesses.

“We definitely made a difference,” said Dr. Jerry Kostroff, Dean of Monroe’s School of Allied Health Professions who accompanied the students. “People really appreciated our visits and because we treated so many children, we were able to really bond with the communities.”

The trip was part of the school’s Healthcare Study Abroad Program, which provides Monroe students from the public health, medical assisting, and pharmacy technician programs with hands-on training, allowing them to work with professional health and medical teams across the world. Students must complete Medical Spanish and Global Health Issues courses in order to qualify for the program, and are selected through a rigorous application process.

The Health Abroad program seeks to work with the overseas communities it serves and educate residents, in the hopes that the local leaders there can then institute programs to target health issues that affect poor neighborhoods.

“The poverty was as epidemic as any potential disease, and with no toilets or potable water, there is a strong possibility of the spread of parasites and cholera,” Kostroff said. “While our students might not have been able to imagine such deplorable conditions beforehand, this was an important part of their real world education to do what they could to help address them.”

The Healthcare Study Abroad Program is part of a contractual agreement between Monroe College and International Service Learning (ISL) a non-profit organization that serves many countries in Central and South America, Mexico, Africa and the Caribbean.

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