Over spring break Dr. Dunleavy along with three third year DPT students, Kristen Mondik, Jennifer Garcia, and Brittany Law, partnered with the UF College of Medicine led by Dr. Elizabeth DeVos and medical students, Victoria Hoang, Arielle Ayotte, Shay Rajavel, and Hayley Ernyey, on a global outreach trip to Merida, Mexico
Students had the privilege to join fellow students from Autonomous University of Yucatán (UADY) to provide interdisciplinary healthcare services in rural communities throughout the Yucatán area (picture 2 Horeb Lavich, Angela Marrufo, Maria Fernanda Polanco, Byanca Manzanares, William Lopez, Carlos Lujun Ayala, Monica Cancl Pereira). In pop-up community clinics in outside locations, students performed on-site examinations, interventions, and education to treat numerous musculoskeletal, neurological, and integumentary conditions with instructor supervision.
The UF and UADY Physical Therapy team worked with 20-40 participants per day with conditions ranging from recent injuries, chronic medical conditions, work-related repetitive strain disorders across the lifespan. By providing handouts, verbal instruction, lifestyle and ergonomic modifications, and home exercise programs they were able to meet the needs of many individuals without regular access to rehabilitation services. Working alongside medicine, nutrition, dentistry, women’s health, pharmacy, and optometry students from UADY, the teams were able to build interprofessional relationships and participate in various learning, service, and advocacy activities!
