Less than 2 months to go!

There are now less than two months until we bid farewell to the US and set off for Ghana! Here are some updates to our upcoming trip:

• A huge THANK YOU to all of our friends & family who have generously contributed to our trip's funds. With your support, we have raised over $1,550 - all of which will go toward the purchase of medical supplies we will bring with us to use and distribute to patients during our community health outreaches in the Ashanti region of Ghana. 

• Omaha non-for-profit organization First Sight has generously donated an eye exam kit to our group. This awesome kit contains 100 eye glass frames, 200 different types of lenses, and all the equipment needed to conduct an eye exam so we can fit children and adults with a pair of glasses (all in less than 15 minutes!). The First Sight kit contains all the necessary tools to help correct average vision problems for people who have minor single farsightedness, nearsightedness, or astigmatism. Check out First Sight's website, with more details on the kit we will be bringing with us here: http://www.firstsighteyeglasses.com/product/

• We have arranged two days in Ghana where we will partner with NGO Unite for Sight (http://www.uniteforsight.org/) to provide eye care in remote rural villages. We will be assisting Ghanaian ophthalmic nurses and optometrists to take patient history, test visual acuity, observe & conduct eye examinations, distribute medication and eyeglasses prescribed by the eye nurse, and provide eye health education. We will also get the chance to observe sight-restoring surgeries provided by the ophthalmologists at Friends Eye Centre in Tamale, Ghana.

• We have also organized a tour of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana's capital city, Accra. Korle-Bu Hospital is the only tertiary hospital in the Southern part of Ghana and is affiliated with the University of Ghana Medical School. We are very much looking forward to the opportunity to learn how medical education is conducted in Ghana, and to compare our experiences to the Ghanaian medical students!

• Our group is also in the process of designing a research study investigating the high prevalence of Typhoid fever in Saboba, Ghana. In previous years, there have been attempts to reduce the incidence of this disease by providing the medical staff at the Saboba Medical Centre with educational tools to teach their patients about the risk factors of typhoid. Our group is interested in continuing this study in order to learn if these educational tools are still being used by the medical staff, and if so, to what effect typhoid education is having on the incidence and prevalance of this disease in Saboba. There is a lot of work still needed to be done designing this project - but we hope this research will lead to a better understanding of how public health education can be beneficial and effective in a community.

• Lastly, Project CURA's primary fundraising event, Savor the Flavor, was a great success! We had an attendance of over 200 Creighton students, faculty, and community members! Each trip prepared a dish local to the cuisine of the country they will be traveling to this summer, and the food was outstanding. Our group made fried plantains, a popular Ghanaian snack, and the buffet line was full of other delicious foods including red-red stew (Ghana), chicken curry (India), spring rolls (Vietnam), goulash (Romania), and more. Project CURA also was able to raise funds through an extensive silent auction & raffle, which included items such as Creighton Men's Basketball season tickets, hand made crafts & jewelry from around the world, gift certificates to Omaha restaurants and businesses, and much much more! Our group put together a poster board with information about our trip, and we were able to talk to many attendees about what we will be doing.

The group in front of our poster at Savor the Flavor

Savor the Flavor sneak peek

On March 24th, Project CURA is hosting "Savor the Flavor", where CURA members will be showcasing their upcoming trips around the globe. The evening will consist of food, culture, and a silent auction in order to raise money for CURA trips.  Each trip will be preparing a dish native to the country the students will be spending their summer.

Our group has decided to make  kelewele, or fried plantain. On Monday, we all got together to practice cooking!

Cutting up the plantains

Plantains, cayenne pepper, and ginger

Into the oil

Here's the recipe:

KELEWELE (FRIED PLANTAIN)

Kelewele is spicy Ghanian snack of cubes or small slices of ripe plantain, spiced with ginger and pepper and deep fried until golden.

Ingredients:

• 4-6 plantains, ripe but not past ripe, peeled and cut into bite-sized cubes
• 1-2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper or ½ teaspoon of red-pepper
• ½ teaspoon peeled, grated fresh gingerroot
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons water
• Palm oil or vegetable oil to fry

Directions:

1) Grind together grated ginger root, pepper, and salt and mix them in water
2) In a glass bowl toss together the plantain cubes and spice mixture
3) In a deep skillet, heat oil (just deep enough to allow plantains to float) to 350 degrees. Fry plantains, turning once, until golden brown on both sides. (Don’t fry them all at once; they should not touch each other while frying).
4) Drain on absorbent paper, keep in warmed oven until all the plantains are fried. Serve kelewele immediately and enjoy!

The plantains were crispy, a little spicy, and best of all - delicious! We can't wait to serve these at Savor the Flavor. 

Elementary school visits


This week, groups of CURA members visited Omaha elementary schools to talk to students about global heath issues, especially regarding pediatric health.

Today, we visited St. Bernadette School and interacted with the fourth grade social studies classes. Some of us spoke about vaccinations & infectious diseases, while others discussed geography and culture of the countries that CURA members will be traveling to this summer. There was also a discussion on the different types of foods eaten around the world, with emphasis placed on teaching the kids about healthy eating.

Overall, it was great to interact with the kids and help them learn a thing or two about the world around us!

Akwaaba (welcome)!

Akwaaba! Welcome to the official blog for our Project CURA trip to Ghana this summer! On May 25, 2014, six of us first year Creighton University medical students will be traveling to Ghana on a medical service trip. We will be spending five weeks volunteering with local organizations that provide medical care and public health education to the community. We will spend two weeks of the trip working with Dr. Jean Young, and American physician and director of the Saboba Medical Centre. This rural clinic services a population of over 120,000 people in the Northeastern part of the country near the Togo border. In Saboba, we will work with locally trained medical providers, assisting and observing various areas of medicine including acute care, surgery, OB/GYN, and pediatrics. The remainder of our time spent in Ghana will include service work with local NGO Light for Children - an organization based in Kumasi that provides support to vulnerable and disadvantaged children, especially those who are HIV-positive. We plan to engage in outreach work involving basic medical exams and educating others on topics such as basic hygiene techniques, typhoid fever and malaria prevention, and sexual health.

Our team goals for the trip:

• To make a meaningful contribution to the needs of the local community through education, applicable medical assistance, and providing necessary resources,
• To increase our understanding of global medicine and learn new concepts of clinical practice,
• To increase our awareness of healthcare needs of underserved populations and to collaborate with others on how to best provide for these people.

Ghana 2014 trip members, from left to right:
Gary, Lauren, Janae (trip leader), John, Ryan, and Patrick

What is Project CURA? 
Project CURA stands for Creighton United in Relief Assistance. It is a medical student-run organization at Creighton University School of Medicine that was established in 2001. The pillars of CURA encompass the ideas of service, simplicity, cultural immersion, and community. Project CURA seeks to deepen our understanding of global realities and health disparities, inspire personal growth and reflection in students, and create avenues for deep and meaningful service-learning opportunities by fostering long-term partnerships between host communities and Creighton medical students, both in the  greater Omaha/eastern Nebraska region and internationally. This year students are traveling to Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Romania, and Vietnam/Cambodia.   

Please support our Project CURA trip to Ghana this summer, and check back as we update our blog with more information about the trip!