HopeCore Launches Kenya Clinical Immersion Program
In collaboration with MedTreks International, we have officially launched our MedTreks Kenya Clinical Immersion program. In January of 2024, MedTreks and HopeCore hosted 11 Nurse Practitioner students and 2 faculty from the University of San Francisco, California.
The lead faculty on this inaugural trip was Dr. Deepika Goyal. Since first visiting Kenya with MedTreks in 2019, Dr. Goyal was determined to help build this program for the Nurse Practitioner students at USF.
In Dr. Goyal’s own words:
I was first introduced to Village HopeCore International in August 2019 during a MedTreks trip and was extremely impressed with the dedication and compassionate care provided by the nurses, community health officers, and community health promoters along HopeCore’s many initiatives to enhance the health and well-being of the community. It is clear that the community would not thrive without all of the initiatives that HopeCore provides: providing health to mothers and children; providing clean drinking water and deworming treatment in schools; and offering antenatal/family planning clinics. I have continued to return to Chogoria and work with HopeCore, this was my 6th trip!
Teaching in a nurse practitioner (NP) program at the University of San Francisco and having the same issues as many other schools, locating women’s health and pediatric clinical sites, I immediately thought how amazing it would be for students to see all of the good work that HopeCore does and work side by side with the HopeCore nurses.
Partnering with HopeCore for an NP clinical immersion, an easy decision!
Our 11 NP students (9 family and 2 psychiatric) and two faculty were able to see several clinical environments (HopeCore antenatal/family planning clinic, maternal child health mobile outreach clinics, and school health clinics). Students also had the opportunity to make home visits with community health promoters (CHPs) and see firsthand the impact of door-to-door education. The NP students who accompanied the CHP were also able to provide wound care, address elevated blood pressures, and provide additional advice. The vast range of experiences made this an excellent clinical experience.
Things that went really well over the 2-week clinical immersion were the warm and welcoming reception from everyone at HopeCore, the ease of working with staff to assign students to the different clinical sites, and seeing firsthand how NP students and HopeCore nurses collaborated with and learned from each other.
We are excited to offer Clinical Immersion in Kenya!
If you are interested in hosting a clinical immersion program, please reach out to our program director:
ariane.rasori@villagehopecore.org
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Inspired by this blog? Check out how else MedTreks impacts the communities in Tharaka Nithi! READ MORE
