I have always wanted to be in the medical field since my encounter with Cuban doctors who volunteered in my town when I was in 6th grade but I never worked hard toward that dream until I came to the United States my junior year of high school. Coming to the United States gave me hope that my dream of being a medical doctor who could help people living in poverty stricken areas could actually come true. Coming from a low-income country and town myself, I understand what it means to not have medical attention when in dire need of it due to inability to pay medical bills, not having enough medical personnel for a town and also nonchalant behavior of people toward modern medicine. Bolgatanga is the name of the town I grew up in, it is the capital
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Paracetamol became a household name because whenever someone had a headache, ‘paracetamol was the cure’. Soon enough, volunteers started flooding into my town to help with good sanitation education and promoting the importance of education in my town as these were main issues they faced. But the group of volunteers that really impacted me and changed my life were medical volunteers from Cuba. When they initially came to the town, they settled at the regional hospital but after they realized that not all the townspeople could receive help that way, they went out personally from house to house to treat people. As I learnt later from the doctors, most of the diseases were water and food-borne diseases and were totally treatable if detected on time; but unfortunately, many people died day in and out because they never got treated. The volunteers stayed for only two weeks but during that short span, I was inspired so much by them to do what they did selflessly. Before they left, they gave me a brochure that outlined the importance of going to see the doctor rather which I used to educate more people about the benefits of going to see the doctor whenever they were sick. Nonetheless, the problem still remained that there weren’t enough doctors to see all these people and the price to see the doctors was way too high for the peasant
Paracetamol became a household name because whenever someone had a headache, ‘paracetamol was the cure’. Soon enough, volunteers started flooding into my town to help with good sanitation education and promoting the importance of education in my town as these were main issues they faced. But the group of volunteers that really impacted me and changed my life were medical volunteers from Cuba. When they initially came to the town, they settled at the regional hospital but after they realized that not all the townspeople could receive help that way, they went out personally from house to house to treat people. As I learnt later from the doctors, most of the diseases were water and food-borne diseases and were totally treatable if detected on time; but unfortunately, many people died day in and out because they never got treated. The volunteers stayed for only two weeks but during that short span, I was inspired so much by them to do what they did selflessly. Before they left, they gave me a brochure that outlined the importance of going to see the doctor rather which I used to educate more people about the benefits of going to see the doctor whenever they were sick. Nonetheless, the problem still remained that there weren’t enough doctors to see all these people and the price to see the doctors was way too high for the peasant