Ah, summer break from school. Time to relax, soak in the sun and party. While many college students take their summer breaks to enjoy cruises and family time, Kristi Stanley, a Las Vegas Academy graduate, is going to Siuna, Nicaragua, in May to help the residents with basic medical needs.
Along with 10 other first-year medical students from the University of Nevada School of Medicine, Stanley will travel to the rural South American community on May 17 and stay there until June 21.
"This is the last summer we have free as medical students," Stanley said. "I've wanted to do something like this for a long time."
The municipality of Siuna has 172 rural communities, which are served by 14 health posts. There is one general health center in Siuna, the major city, but it is not a fully functioning hospital. Stanley's group will be attending patients at one of the health posts within the municipality. The 23-year-old and her colleagues will give locals information on hand washing, physical exams, water sanitization and oral hygiene.
"We're going to pass out toothbrushes," Stanley said.
To prepare for the trip, Stanley and her fellow students are studying the Spanish language on lunch breaks, in between their medical school classes and studying for exams. While in Nicaragua, the medical students will be living either in a community house near the health post or a nearby farm. There is no electricity, running water, or cell phone service where they will be living.
"The dedication they must have," said Carol Stanley, Kristi's mother. "I know it's a lot of work going to medical school. That's all they do, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is study."
Once a week, the first-year University of Nevada School of Medicine students get to spend an afternoon with a practicing doctor. Kristi helps her mentor perform physical exams, which she learned to do this year. She will apply that knowledge during her time in Nicaragua when she performs exams on the citizens of Siuna.
"I think it's a wonderful thing," Carol said. "When you're 20, you have hope in your heart that you can change the world."
Kristi, who graduated from the Las Vegas Academy in 2002, is interested in emergency medicine and pediatrics. She attended the University of Southern California and did a double major in biology and German, which she used in the emergency room one time.
Of medical school, Kristi said, "It's this amazing amount of material all at once."
The future physician devotes most hours of the day to her chosen profession, studying sometimes until 3 a.m.
"I know a lot of people are losing faith in the medical profession," Kristi said. "But, most (students) are pretty genuinely interested in helping people."
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