Excited, nervous, and slightly sleep deprived, we braved the -10 degree weather to meet at Buntrock at 6am to journey to MSP!  We are enjoying our layover in Atlanta as only one plane ride stands between us and Peru.

We have one small challenge before we can watch copious amounts of rom-coms on the plane, a quiz… Hopefully, this is just the first of many challenges to be faced and overcome during our Peruvian Medical Experience!

We will land in Lima around midnight, clear customs with flying colors (knock on wood), and then catch a few hours of sleep before flying to Cusco!

See you in Cusco,

Cece and Peder

Hi all,

Only one more day until we get to experience all that we have prepared for this last semester. Woohoo!!

Today we spent our morning class presenting on Peruvian culture, history, politics, society, health, religion, and education. Each student chose a snippet about Peru to research and share with the class. We expect to encounter some of this information while in Peru. For example, we discussed the history of the city of Cusco as well as some Peruvian and Incan traditions. Our group will spend a little over a week in Cusco which was once the capital of the Incan Empire.

This afternoon, Dr. Tate and Murt Sherek, R.N., brought their insight to teach our group about diseases we will encounter and what to expect in the clinic setting. Dr. Tate reminded us about the importance of flexibility in a multicultural environment. He also provided us with a vision of what to expect for the clinic. Murt showed us how to take vital signs which will be one of our responsibilities in the clinic.  It is important to understand that situations may not go as planned and there may be unexpected challenges.

As we set out on the Peruvian Medical Experience, we are encouraged to be both analytical and open-minded. Here at St. Olaf, our logos (reasoning) is challenged, and in Peru, we will be confronted with a more emotional experience (mythos).

Tonight we hope to get well rested and prepared for our big adventure!!! Next time you will hear from us we will be on our way.

Steven and Amy

Hey All, it is getting closer and closer to the big day! We continued our preparations here on the Hill today. We all couldn’t be more excited to finally get going on our mission.

We spent much of the day learning and studying the microbes that can cause disease in our daily lives and specifically looked at diseases that we could potentially come across in clinic. We hope to see only healthy patients, but we need to be ready to see a variety of illnesses and be prepared for a wide variety. There is a common consensus among the group with hopes for our own happy bellies as we embark on this journey into a world of all new microbes which we have yet to experience!

This evening we spent even more time together preparing all of the supplies that we will travel with to Peru. Lots of talk about a hoping for a successful trip through Peruvian customs, but armed with a letter from the president, we hope we are set! Eighteen St. Olaf students and 20 bags of medical supplies can’t look that suspicious, can it?

Over pizza and packing we shared laughs and concerns about our upcoming journey with some of our awesome doctors. They had so many stories to share of previous travels to Peru, which only made us more excited to get there.

Our semester together has flown by, and it has finally come time for us Oles to take on our medical mission.

Colten and Annika

Hi everyone, this is the blog we will be posting to everyday during our trip to Peru to keep you up to date with what we are experiencing. Please feel free the share this link with family and friends.

This morning we reunited as a group and were updated on everyone’s breaks. We are all very excitedly awaiting the trip.

After meeting as a larger group, we convened in our smaller groups, with each group conquering an individual public health task. This year we hope to explore options for cleaner water and safer stoves, document our progress to hopefully start a non-profit, make progress on fluoridating the salt in Peru for dental hygiene, and have more efficient medical documentation for our continuous efforts. We will keep the blog up to date on our progress.

This afternoon, we participated in the University of Minnesota program titled Global Ambassadors for Patient Safety where we learned how to effectively provide medical treatment abroad as non-medical professionals.

We are enjoying being back on the hill, but we can’t wait to get to the mountains.

Hope everyone has a safe and healthy New Year.

Michelle and Ryan

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