What's New at MEDICC

By Diane Appelbaum, RN, FNP, MS
U.S. Director

It is not surprising that I feel an affinity for Oya, the Yoruba Orisha of winds and tornados. The past year has whirled by, not always in linear fashion. Now, with barely one month left in 2002, I am happy to report on MEDICC’s accomplishments over this past year. And we are growing–not only in size and in expansion of our educational programs, but in new directions.

Feeling proud of MEDICC in many ways, I first want to highlight several honors recently received by MEDICC Academic Council and Advisory Board members.

MEDICC Leaders Honored

Peter Bourne, MD, Co-chair of MEDICC’s Academic Council, and his wife, Mary King, PhD, were invited by President Jimmy Carter to accompany him to Oslo, Sweden, for the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Bourne served as advisor on health matters in the Carter White House, and in 1997 published the President’s authoritative biography entitled Jimmy Carter: A Comprehensive Biography from Plains to Postpresidency.

Warmest congratulations are in order for Council member C. William Keck, MD, MPH, FACPM, who received the most prestigious award from the American Public Health Association (APHA) in November. The Sedgwick Memorial Medal for Distinguished Public Health, has been awarded every year since 1929 to an individual who has demonstrated a remarkable record of service to public health while working to further public health practices and knowledge. The 2002 Medal recognized Dr. Keck’s exemplary leadership at the helm of the Akron, Ohio Department of Health for the past 26 years, as well as his distinguished service as maker, teacher, mentor, author and public leader. During his 30 year membership in APHA, Dr. Keck served as APHA president in 1991 and on the Executive Board.

And on the West Coast, Council member Harry Douglas, III, DPA, has been awarded an Honorary Medal and Distinguished Service Award as the Founding Dean of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science College of Allied Health (1983-1994). The award was presented at Drew’s First Annual Convocation Honoring the University’s Founders. The award is given by the University’s Board of Trustees. Dr. Douglas is a member of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities.

Here at MEDICC’s home base in Atlanta, Alfred Brann, Jr., MD, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2002, presented by the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Brann has demonstrated outstanding and enduring contributions to the profession of pediatrics, to his community, and to the children of Georgia over his long career. Dr. Brann is professor of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine. He also serves as Director of the WHO Collaborating Center in Perinatal Health and Health Services Research in Maternal Child Health.

Finally, the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) presented Susan Scrimshaw, PhD, Dean of the University of Illinois School of Public Health and MEDICC Advisory Board Member, with a special award in recognition of her leadership over the last two years as chair of the Deans’ Executive Committee. Hailed as the “dean of deans”, the committee noted her tireless efforts on behalf of the association and the schools it represents.

MEDICC is fortunate to benefit from the guidance, wisdom and energy of each of these special people as we develop our programs and take on new challenges.

Academic Council Meeting and Reception, Washington, D.C.

Michele Diane Peter Reception.jpg Pie de foto: Dr. Michele Frank, MEDICC’s Academic Director, joins Diane Appelbaum and Dr. Peter Bourne at the MEDICC reception.

Despite all our efforts, the Cuban members of MEDICC’s Academic Council did not receive U.S. visas to attend the Washington, DC annual meeting. Application was made eight weeks in advance—double the time required in the past—for visas which have been regularly granted to this same group of Cuban colleagues annually for the past five years. Our meeting come and gone, their requests are still listed as “pending” on State Department computers.

According to a November editorial in The Washington Post, formidable red tape since September 11th has delayed visa processing across the board, and virtually jammed the works in the State Department and other agencies now charged with the review process.

Dr. C. William Keck with MEDICC’s newest Atlanta staff member, Business Manager Jerrontay Foster and Program Coordinator Adrianne Du’sauzay.

The same editorial suggested that the new “security bureaucracy” in place has “slowed the process without making it more efficient”, and warned such inefficiency would finally boomerang by slowing business and scientific cooperation with the United States. In MEDICC’s case, this is certainly true. We have worked hard to achieve a strong collaborative relationship with Cuban health professionals and educators—a relationship we sincerely believe benefits health efforts in both countries. Visas or no, we are jointly committed to this goal.

The U.S. members of the Council met during two days, and a reception was held at the home of Drs. Peter Bourne and Mary King, where friends of MEDICC, including officials from the Pan American Health Organization, other international agencies, and Dagoberto Rodriguez, head of the Cuban Interests Section, were welcomed.

Atlanta Office

We are delighted to have Jerrontay Foster as MEDICC’s newest staff member, who began in October as MEDICC’s Business Manager. Mr. Foster received a B.S. in Accounting from Morris Brown College and has worked with other non-profit organizations. He is from Atlanta, where he wants to stay – which is lucky for MEDICC! We greatly appreciate the level of expertise and professionalism that Jerrontay brings to MEDICC.

Herbert Kimble

Also to be commended is Adrianne Du’sauzay, MEDICC’s excellent Program Coordinator, who is doing a heroic job keeping up with student enrollment and expansion of MEDICC programs. Her experience in Cuba last March gave her a foundation from which she can draw to answer student queries, and her creativity has led to smoother operations for all concerned.

Herbert Kimble is MEDICC’s new work-study student. Herbert is a health management major in his first year at Rollins School of Public Health. New to Atlanta, Herbert received a B.S. in biochemistry at Indiana University. He has been extremely helpful in updating our reading list and bibliography, from which we will develop a new MEDICC student reading packet.

SNMA and Cuban students in Santiago de Cuba.

Short Courses

The demand is increasing for MEDICC short courses, planned with specific universities and organizations. Last summer 17 medical students from the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) pioneered what promises to be an annual learning experience in Cuba. They were also pioneers in another sense, as MEDICC’s first group to carry out their studies in eastern Santiago de Cuba. A highlight of their time in Santiago was visiting a primary health care facility in the mountains, where they were able to meet family doctors and nurses as well as local health activist teams.

Here are some of their comments:

“Before I came on this trip, I already had goals to serve in underserved areas of the U.S., and to serve in other countries; however, Cuba helped me to become even more motivated to do this. I learned a great deal from the doctors and medical students in Cuba and they impacted me with their love for the profession and their love for humanity.”

“I appreciated the diversity of the site visits and seminars. Also, the stay in Santiago de Cuba with other medical students of color.”

MEDICC also hosted a short course for Loma Linda, as part of their course on Integrated Community Development, led by professor Barbara Anderson. The sixteen Loma Linda faculty and students participated in a two-week program in Cuba. Part of their time was spent in the province of Pinar del Rio, where they met with health professionals and community representatives to look at various aspects of the public health care system. One student commented: “The academic program was very practical with site visits. If we were given traditional lectures, we would not have benefited as much as we did. Although well organized, the program was flexible to change and adaptable to our educational and professional needs.”

MEDICC-Yale Residency Program

Yale resident Dr. Devan Kansagara and first-year medical student Sarah Lipton at a Cuban family doctor’s office.

MEDICC has seen a gradual increase over the past year in the number of medical residents doing rotations in Cuba. We are also pleased to have a collaboration with the Yale Residency program, bringing six to eight Yale residents to Cuba every year. The 2002-03 group includes Devan Kansagara, Jane DeLima, Karran Phillips, Carolyn Simpkins, Pracha Eamranond, Placid Bone and Gene Balboa.

Summer Electives

The Clinical Elective for first year medical students continues to be popular, and this year we had more applicants than we could accommodate. Thirty students were accepted into the elective, and each spent two weeks in Havana, and two weeks in Pinar del Rio, working with a family doctor-nurse team in the community. The Dean of the Medical School in Pinar del Rio, Dr. Mirta Sixto, is a member of MEDICC’s Academic Council, and provides excellent programs and hospitality for our students, reflected in some of their comments:

“I definitely saw how successful public health could be for prevention. I also saw how important community and a sense of belonging to something is for the health of people.”

“Confirmed international health and economic policy interests. I had an introduction to natural and traditional medicine that I hope to learn more about and someday incorporate into practice.”

Comments from students in the Health Sciences Elective and the Women’s Health Elective also reveal what they considered the most important aspects of their program:

“I’ve always had a strong interest in minority and international healthcare. My trip to Cuba has encouraged and strengthened that interest. I learned how a country can make so much out of little resources, this is something that would be well utilized in areas of the U.S.”

“In Matanzas Province we were able to go back to the maternity hospital many times because we met doctors and nurses and got to know them and over time.”

“Perhaps the most important thing I will take away is the interaction between the family physician and patient. Keeping meticulous records and really knowing patients improves the general health profile.”

On analyzing our MEDICC student evaluations overall, students from all three summer electives rated most highly their time in the provinces, working with the doctor-nurse teams. MEDICC feels fortunate to be able to offer students such hands-on opportunities in the provinces. Thus far, in addition to the National School of Public Health, MEDICC has collaborated with medical schools in the following provinces to provide in-depth learning experiences for our students: Villa Clara, Pinar del Río, Matanzas, Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba.

Coming Up…

The first Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Elective in February will take students to eastern Camaguey province, for an opportunity to see how Cuba’s public health system integrates this “natural and traditional” medicine with conventional Western medicine—both in practice and in medical education.

All rights reserved (c) 2002 - MEDICC - Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba - ISSN: 1527-3172