Campbell med students travel to Guatemala for final mission trip of 2024

January 15, 2025

Students, faculty and staff from Campbell University's Jerry M. Wallace School of Medicine visited Guatemala in December, their last mission trip of 2024.

Seven students who served on the trip recently offered a show-and-tell-type presentation for faculty and staff at the med school. Another team member,Amber Schwartz-Mattern, created a moving video about the trip, which was played before the students talked about their experiences.

The group of student presenters included second-year med students Michael Dennis, Maggie Degen and Elise Brewster and first-year students Sebastian Rosado, Kirk Mattern, Michael Giugliano and Matthew Baker.

They talked about caring for almost 500 patients in rural northwest Guatemala. Treating people for hypertension, vision problems and acute diseases, such as viruses and bacterial infections.

The water in parts of Guatemala isn't clean, so some residents drink as much as seven or eight cups of coffee each day, sometimes leading to gastrointestinal and related problems, such as heart palpitations.

Boiling water can help purify it, which some people failed to realize until students taught them about it.

Little things making big differences, while also developing and building relationships. Teaching and learning about the power of prayer. Life-changing experiences and human connections.

For the students, the teachers and the patients. Medicine and treatment are vital, but these mission trips encompass so much more.

There's so much medicine can do, the students said. But so much more that it cannot.

"The kids were one of the best parts, for sure," said Brewster, who talked about treating her first patient during the first day of Campbell's clinic.

"It was a girl who was very close to my own age, and she had … a baby two months ago. I don't even remember what she was coming in for … but at the end of our visit, I just got to pray with her and for her health and for her baby," Brewster said. "The way that she looked at me after … that stuck out to me, that connection.

"We didn't speak the same language at all, but just … it was just really sweet, and we just had one day, but I'm going to remember her forever. And just the way that she looked at me, I feel like she'll remember me for a long time, too. That was really cool."

Dennis asked med school faculty to encourage their students to undertake and complete a mission trip.

It matters.

"The people there really care," he said of the respective patients. "Even if you can't do much for them, they're more pleased that you're just there with them, and they don't really complain about the circumstances or their situation."

Offering hope and transforming lives, even if the trip lasts only a couple of weeks. Still always leaving something behind.

"I just think of the hope that was left behind because of students like this," said Dr. Joe Cacioppo, chair of Community and Global Medicine and associate professor of emergency medicine at Campbell.

"The hope that was left behind changed their spirit, changed their demeanor, gave them hope, and that hope was transformational. Our students actually developed relationships with the patients," leaving those same patients to think, "They're not just passing out a pill, but they really care about us. These guys go because they really care. That's the difference. That's what these guys do."

The Dominican Republic was the most recent trip for the medical school before December's trip to Guatemala. This past summer, a Campbell team visited Ghana, in west Africa.
Medical school students also stayed busy this summer setting up clinics about once a month in local underserved areas. This includes places such as Siler City, Raleigh, Dunn, Goldsboro and Durham.
The med school regularly utilizes its mobile clinics throughout Harnett County and other rural areas throughout North Carolina.

More mission trips are planned in 2025.

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