Sara and I are so proud of this team. They have been working so hard and well together. They truly are a group of servant leaders. At Bateyes Esperanza on Monday, January 9th, we had the privilege of serving 103 beautiful people. We were working alongside a Dominican dentist, Haitian/Dominican interpreters, a church team from Rhode Island, an internal medicine physician from GA who practices at the VA, a family practice physician on a grant exploring ways to help service/mission groups communicate and collaborate on work in the Dominican Republic. MGH-IHP students took on 5 United States...

Tuesday, January 10, 2017 Bateye Quisquella By Muni Adebimpe It's day two! Our amazing group rode all the way to Bayete Quisquella where we were able to service about 85 individuals. Highlights from the day included a man with a dislocated shoulder, a woman with lymphedema, a child with pneumonia, and a variety of individuals that presented with high blood pressure. All these individuals were managed and treated appropriately by the MGH-IHP nurses team alongside the medical doctors (who were Haitian and Dominican) and our very own Sara Smoller, an acute care nurse practitioner. Moreover,...

Sunday 1/8/17: Nadia Carter The Dominican Republic is a mostly Christian country. Driving through the cities, there are several churches within blocks of each other, with services in Spanish as well as Haitian creole. Additionally, many walls were decorated with passages from the Bible about Jesus Cristo (Jesus Christ) and Dios (God). Given that we were here with a Christian mission, our experience was immersed with prayer and moments where we thanked God for the opportunity to be here to help. Many of the people in our group come from diverse religious/spiritual backgrounds, but were very...

1/7/17 Today started with a late breakfast. Fresh pineapple and papaya were served along with bacon and cinnamon oatmeal. Everyone came into breakfast with droopy eyes and most hit up the coffee station before anything else. Afterwards though, we prepared to start our first official day! Today's goal was to sort through medical supplies that we would need for the week. The onsite supply room was stripped bare and re–organized. Numerous tables were set up to accommodate a supply line of students who divided medications up into mini zip-loc bags. Everyone worked hard and felt a strong sense of...

1/6/17 Arrived at Logan Airport at 7:00 pm. Terminal C JetBlue. Mertie and Fred Potter and Sarah Smoller were quickly spotted. Our group began to gather. There are 20 of us total. We found a scale and weighed our bags. 50lbs max….nothing more allowed. Overweight suitcases were offloaded in search of a waiting underweight partner. Bags checked. Quick dinner for all and off to gate C34. Fred hung a small green background and took headshots of all. Quick group photo and onto the plane. Flight departed 10:05 pm, leaving frosty Beantown for heavenly humid Santo Domingo. Arrived Santo Domingo 3:15...

Thoughts on the relationship between developing teaching skills and patient care: How does being a great teacher translate into being a great and compassionate clinician? It can and it does! This month was the fourth successful year of the Post-Graduate Trainees: Future Academic Clinician-Educators course, a four-way collaborative effort sponsored by the MGH Institute of Health Professions , the Harvard Macy Institute , Boston Children’s Hospital , and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai . The course drew 49 trainee scholars from over 10 institutions in the U. S. and Canada for three...

It is always stunning and almost beautiful to see experienced and passionate care providers come to know and respect each other across a professional discipline education divide. We enter these learning experiences willingly; but perhaps with some trepidation and defense of our individual professional identities. We are, after all, experienced and expert in our own uni-professional knowledge, steeped in our professional culture and beliefs about how we contribute to our patients’ interests. What’s at play in these interprofessional development experiences: perhaps pride, unconscious bias,...

350 students in Nursing, Speech-Language Pathology, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Physician Assistant Studies 40 Infants and Toddlers accompanied by eager parents and grandparents 25 faculty members from all the disciplines New space about to be renovated, but not quite ready yet... It’s the IHPs annual Infant Development Day. Now, at least a decade old, this event is one of the highlights of the annual academic fall kickoff events. Drs. Laura Plummer and Anne McCarthy-Jacobson both from the Department of Physical Therapy, along with many colleagues pull this whole thing...

It’s our first week of classes for the fall term. In May and June, the first year cohorts in the ABSN , DPT , OTD , and PA Studies programs come to the Navy Yard to begin their classes. This week, those veterans of one term were joined by the MS- Nursing and MS-SLP cohorts and the PhD students as well. The first year entry level class is now complete. Welcome to every one of you. Joining the IHP community is about making a difference for others. That is the decision you made when you committed to your health profession and now that is the hallmark of your career choice. Symbolic of that...

Those reading this column are no doubt as disturbed, dismayed, and disheartened as I am by the seemingly relentless acts of violence in our society, too many of which reflect the persistent racism and injustice that have continued to plague our country – with often devastating impact on people of color – since its founding. It is inconceivable to me that in 2016 we have not yet found ways either locally or globally to achieve a more peaceful, equitable, and just world for all. At the same time, I believe, as President Obama so eloquently noted in his remarks at the memorial for the five...