NMSA Global Health Celebrates a Successful Pioneering Year

Our first year as a full branch in the NMSA has been an exciting ride – we’ve learned how to communicate across the continent, met challenges with various administrations and worked successfully as a group of passionate but busy ND students. Global Health was the theme of the month for April at each of our seven schools. Your local Global Health Representatives each helped to bring education and/or awareness to your student body in a different way. Here are some highlights of the growth each of your schools has seen this year, thanks to your GHR and your fellow committed students.

At Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine, GHR Taylor Bean has been the voice of global health at her school, advertising the global opportunities on the NMSA Global Health webpage and giving students more information on the international organizations that welcome naturopathic students to join their medical programs. Taylor also ran a postcard campaign in association with the AMSA AIDS Advocacy Group – an effort to get pharmaceutical companies to contribute to the public patent pool to make AIDS medication more accessible in developing countries. She has worked this year to get a voice for global health in the student government and has seen Boucher change its policy to allow observation opportunities in the US for their students.

At National College of Natural Medicine, midwife Patricia Couch and Jessica Black, ND were invited by GHR Nat Bingham to speak to the students about the founding of MamaBaby Haiti (www.mamababyhaiti.org), an organization with a newly opened clinic and birth center in Cap Haitien, Haiti. NCNM students were inspired to form a group to coordinate MamaBaby medical brigades in the future. Nat hosts a global health group for students working to bring more opportunities to learn and discuss all things global health at NCNM. This group has shown documentaries throughout the year and recently arranged for global NDs Sean and Sarah Hesler to speak at NCNM. The group plans to bring more training and educational opportunities to NCNM students in the future.

At Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, GHR Kelly Bender got creative to start some buzz at her school about the state of healthcare globally and the role that naturopathic physicians can play to improve this state. She posted the numbers 2, 27, 1.7 billion and 1 around the SCNM campus, and had students wondering for days what they meant before she revealed that there were 2 doctors per 10,000 people in most underdeveloped countries, 27 doctors per 10,000 people in the US and Canada, 1.7 billion people around the world that do not have access to healthcare, and ONE person needed to make a difference. She handed out stickers with “1” written on them to students who wanted to make a commitment to be that one person to make a difference. Throughout the year, the work of Kelly and student group Naturopaths Without Borders (www.ndwb.org) has provided SCNM students the opportunity to work at the MamaBaby Haiti Clinic in Haiti and take monthly trips to a clinic in Rocky Point, Mexico.

At National University of Health Science, the school saw its first Natural Doctors International (www.ndimed.org) brigade to Nicaragua, tirelessly organized by GHR Crystal Foresman-Landers. She brought together ND students and chiropractors for a one-of-a kind brigade where the students got to experience the integration of their fields in a global health setting. The work of Crystal and her fellow students is paving the way for more global opportunities for NUHS.

At Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, GHR Catherine O'Halloran organized two presentations for her student body for Global Health month. One to familiarize the students with the international organizations that have invited naturopathic students to work with them, and one from CCNM’s public health professor about the key players in the world of global health and her personal experience in the middle east.

At University of Bridgeport, GHR Maria Zangara has been working to build relationships with our international naturopathic organizations like Naturopathic Medicine for Global Health (www.natmedglobalhealth.org), founded by Bridgeport alumni Carlos Cunningham. She plans to work more with NMGH in the future, getting the students involved to support their efforts in Guatemala.

Bastyr University saw much growth in global health this year, and was represented by GHR Carly Erickson. Her fellow students founded a Naturopaths Without Borders chapter at their school, which started out strong by coordinating a successful medical brigade to Haiti with MamaBaby Haiti over their spring break. This year Bastyr students also travelled with Natural Doctors International to Nicaragua, where sadly they lost a friend, colleague and global health enthusiast, Michelle Eustache in a tragic accident.

It is very exciting to see so much cooperation and growth amongst naturopathic students who share a passion for global health. We are beginning to realize how uniquely suited naturopaths are to global medicine and beginning to see the vast amount of opportunities available to us. However, as we've learned of our opportunities we've also learned of our challenges. Our smaller and newer schools are just beginning to understand that they have students passionate about working globally, and there is much work to be done with these administrations to gain their full support. If you are interested in being involved in the coming year, please contact one of the aforementioned GHRs or the Global Health Chair at .

By Erin Moore, NMSA VP of Health Impact