Bringing hope: Med school trip to Kenya ‘special,’ ‘transformative’

The question was simple, concise: In one word, how would you describe the trip?

The answers weren't so elementary. Rather, they were profound, inherently complex: special, transformative, heartwarming.

The words, coming at the end of a short video, describe the thoughts and feelings of those who traveled to Kenya with the Campbell University Community Care Clinic. Student doctors, faculty and staff saw and cared for more than 1,221 patients in about two weeks, a record for the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine.

In all, 18 students, including one student from the Pharmacy program, traveled to Africa.

In several sites around the country they offered eye exams and provided corrective lenses. They screened patients for hypertension and diabetes, for example. They set up a pharmacy and distributed medications. They demonstrated the healing powers of osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM). They helped to diagnose chronic conditions and provided a pathway for patients to receive follow up care.

Dr. Joseph Cacioppo, chair of Community and Global Health, said it was among the best of the clinic's many trips over the years. The med school plans to return to Kenya in 2027.

"It was an exceptionally good trip. The host ministry was phenomenal," said Cacioppo, who went on to explain that Campbell worked with the Ministry of Health and relied on local pastors to offer clinics in church settings. "We had really good healthcare connections, as well as ministerial connections."

At an academy for girls near the border with Nairobi, the Campbell team distributed 15 pairs of classes among the 240 or so students who live at the school.

Glasses in Kenya, Cacioppo says, are expensive, and most optometrists work in the country's bigger cities, often far away from the smaller towns and villages scattered throughout the country. Getting to appointments is another issue, as transportation is unreliable and oftentimes hard to find.

Dr. Thomas Motyka, assistant dean for Osteopathic Integration, said his teams saw 581 patients. Many of the patients entered the clinic complaining of a headache but found relief after the hands-on OMM.

"Every student, I think, in a half day, saw 15 or 20 patients that they had a chance to treat," Motyka said. "It's very interesting for them to actually treat someone, rather than just work on each other in the lab."

The trip for student Dr. Paul Farag, was, in his short description, "life-changing."

"It truly was," he said. "I enjoyed every part of it. For me, it was the fact that I got to talk to patients. … I was happy that I got to speak to people and to learn more about them."

The students also learned about Kenyan culture, about the many Kenyan tribes, including the Maasai. About the official language - Swahili. They ventured into the country on a safari, where they saw lions and elephants, water buffalo, zebras and giraffes.

The Campbell student doctors rotated through the four specialty clinics, spending about half of a day in each. The rest of the day they interact with some of the local children, playing soccer or volleyball. Making balloons or coloring.

"It's really important in our osteopathic philosophy that we get to know who our patients are," Cacioppo said. "That's really important in healthcare, that you get to know who your patients are. You end up with better outcomes, but (the students) really get to know who they're taking care of … to learn their culture, to get to learn what the individuals are like, and I think that's really an important part of their learning process."

They turned no one away.

"I was just happy that we were able to see everybody," Farag, med school class of 2029, said. "We didn't have to turn anybody away, which made me happy."

Empowering. Fulfilling.

Hope.

Watch video from the trip here.

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