Amneet Kaur Bajwa - Founder and President

iServe is a new student-run initiative partnering with Buckeyes Without Borders and The Ohio State University Global Health Office. We are focused on providing students with medical experiences in India which will add to their growth as upcoming healthcare professionals.

Our Team

Leadership

Amneet Kaur Bajwa- Founder and President

BS, The Ohio State University

MD candidate 2017, The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Nahid Rashid- Vice President

BS, University of Michigan

MD candidate 2017, The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Shuvro Roy- Director of Development

BS, The Ohio State University

MD candidate 2017, The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Faculty Support

Charles Lockwood, MD, MHCM- Dean, The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Daniel Sedmak, MD- Senior Associate Vice President for Health Sciences at The Ohio State University Medical Center, Director of the Office of Global Health

Current Initiative

Goals

 Offer students a global health experience

 Allow students to participate in hands-on clinical situations

 Offer students medical experiences unique to the region

 Provide opportunities for interaction with health professionals

Strategy

In order to provide students with a global health experience, we will be traveling to the city of Shillong, located in the state of Meghalaya, India. Students will have the opportunity to engage in medical care at a local hospital in Shillong and also at a health camp organized in a nearby rural village. All activities will be facilitated by the Martin Luther Christian University in Shillong.

Under the guidance of physicians, students will have the opportunity to perform basic procedures such as venipuncture and injections while volunteering at the local hospital and health camp. They will also assist with measuring vital signs, collecting patient histories, and performing physical examinations. Through participation in these hands-on activities, students will hone their skills learned over the past year in medical school. Not only will they be practicing their skills, but they will also learn how to adapt them to a different patient demographic. The opportunity to learn how to navigate around challenges presented by foreign patients will be valuable to them as they proceed in their medical training.

In addition to practicing basic medical assistant tasks, we hope to offer students the opportunity to learn new information. Integrative medicine is popular in Shillong and its surrounding regions. In the state Meghalaya, nearly 80% of people rely on tribal medicine. The uses of tribal medicine range from treating diarrhea and indigestion to treating injuries and fractures. Recent surveys conclude that up to 90% of people who have used tribal medicine have found it beneficial. Students will have the chance to shadow traditional healers who work in this area. Although tribal medicine is very popular in this area, is not government supported and thus is not funded. During this trip, students will get the opportunity to provide patients with a type of health care that is both free and familiar to them. This knowledge is not commonly used in the West, and will give students an additional outlook on medicine—hopefully allowing them to tackle future medical scenarios with a multifaceted and open minded view.

Finally, students will have multiple opportunities to work with health professionals throughout their stay in Shillong. These interactions will help students to become more comfortable with their role as upcoming physicians since they will be representing themselves as medical students, and The Ohio State University to international health professionals.

Funding Options

We understand that a trip to India requires a significant investment on the part of our students, which is why we are dedicated to exploring funding opportunities to ease these costs. The main costs of this project will be in travel and lodging costs, as the materials and equipment necessary will be provided by Martin Luther King University.

Sources of funding in the inaugural year will be targeted as follows:

 Partnership through Ohio State Global Gateways Office for $10,000

 Donation from The Ohio State University College of Medicine of $2500

 Funding from the Ohio State University Medical Alumni Society for $1300

Maximizing Funds and iServe sustainability

In future years, iServe will primarily target grant funding to supplement costs. There are a number of grant foundations that support trips such as iServe. Also, this trip will officially be a part of the Buckeyes Without Borders, which will also raise funds for the trip. We are also looking into partnering with Buck-i-Serve, another prominent service learning group here at Ohio State. Ideally, with parts of the costs being covered by these three ventures, combined with partial funding from Global Gateways, the costs for students will be very manageable.

Proposed Budget

It should be pointed out that costs for recreation and for acquiring visas are not included in this budget. When these costs are projected for 10 students, the total cost for the iServe trip is approximately $22,300. 3 students have purchased the $2,200 flight from Columbus, while the remaining seven purchased the $1,400 flight from Toronto.

Costs and Timing

1. Costs of Plane tickets- Students will all book their flights during the month of April. Projected Costs: $16,400
2. Lodging in country, Food and Drink, and Transportation in country will be a total of $440 per student, with students individually paying upon reaching Shillong. Projected Costs: $4,400
3. Visa applications will be submitted by mid-March at the latest, to allow for enough time for submission, review, and approval before mid-June. Projected Costs: $603.

Risk Management

 Funding Risks: Our fundraising goal is to reimburse $1000 of the expenses for each student going on the trip. The total cost for 10 students will be taken on the trip, and the total price of the trip will be $22,300. We have already raised $10,000 through a partnership with Ohio State Global Gateways Office, and have applied for the Medical Alumni Society Grant for which we received $1,300. We have also received a pledge from the Ohio State University College of Medicine for $2,500. This should bring us to our goal of $13,800.

 Sustainability: iServe will be working with the Martin Luther Christian University and The North Eastern Indira Gandhi Institute of Research and Medical Science during the 2014 trip. We plan to discuss potential projects for the upcoming years with these two institutions in order for iServe to become a longitudinal project within the College of Medicine. We will also be looking to partner with both Buckeyes Without Borders and Buck-i-Serve to share the costs of this trip, as well as expand the opportunity to more students.

 Lack of medical student/professional student interest: Many medical students have expressed serious interest in this trip. This trip is also open to other professional students who are interested in global health, so we believe we will be filling all 10 spots. Once again, partnering with two other well-tenured interdisciplinary global health programs here at Ohio State should help alleviate this concern.

 Ensuring a valuable experience: In order to ensure that students are able to learn and practice during this experience we have sent a letter to the Martin Luther Christian University stating our requirements. We would like this global health experience to be interactive and meaningful for everyone who is participating. This includes volunteering in environments where there is a need for healthcare and allowing students to participate directly in patient care. The University has put together a team which will be organizing our experience and will ensure that it is meaningful for all parties involved.

 Traveler’s Insurance: In order for students to have adequate care in cases of emergencies or health problems, they will be required to purchase Student Traveler’s Insurance from The Ohio State University’s Global Health Office.

 Safety: This is a top priority as we would not be willing to take our students where they would be in a harmful environment. The US State department does not have a travel advisory for India at this time. However, there are a few areas in East India which are more dangerous to travelers. Fortunately, we do not plan on traveling to, or stopping in any of these areas. The state of Meghalaya is generally regarded as the safest state in the East for foreign travelers. In addition, the Martin Luther Christian University has had experience hosting foreign students and have not had any issues with safety in the past. A response from Dr. Glenn Kharkonger from the MLC University regarding safety is below.

From Dr. Kharkonger:

Dear Amneet,

To answer your query, we have many foreign students studying at our university, especially from the neighboring countries of Myanmar and Bangladesh. We also have had two groups of visiting students (10-12 in each group) from Italy in 2011 and 2012, who spent part of their two-week stay living in a village. We also had a group of three faculty members from The Netherlands last year.

Meghalaya has many foreign tourists visiting each year, visiting the capital Shillong but also travelling in the interior areas for trekking, camping and caving.

So it is quite safe for foreigners in Meghalaya. There are efficient emergency services including police and ambulance in the more remote areas.

Regards,

Dr. Glenn