CAHS Team Mexico 2015 Assists Palace Foundation

For the third straight year, and again at the invitation of Palace Resorts Foundation, the University of Cincinnati’s (UC) College of Allied Health Sciences (CAHS) formed an interdisciplinary team and traveled to Cancun, Mexico, to provide patients with free clinical services and education.

CAHS Team Mexico 2015 was comprised of 24 members; including community clinicians, volunteer translators, and UC faculty and students from physical therapy, nutrition and audiology.

While in Cancun, the team treated hundreds of patients in locations such as the Home for the Elderly, the Home for Exceptional Children, and a local Cancun government hospital. Treatments were also provided to employees of Palace Resorts.

In total, the audiologists treated 169 patients and provided hearing aids to patients in need, nutritionists treated 181 patients and physical therapists treated 215 patients. 
 
Faculty member Rose Smith, MEd, DPT, an associate professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, has traveled to Cancun each of the three years and says, "Each time I come back with a greater appreciation of what I really have at home.”

The team goals are: to be good examples of giving back, caring at all levels, and to strive to be good team members.

Jackie Klaserner, a doctoral student in audiology, says she knew that she would gain exposure to a new culture and grow within her profession by coming on this trip, but she also gained something else: "I have a whole new appreciation for the need of an interdisciplinary approach within the medical fields, and I worked alongside an amazing group of faculty and students whom I now can count on and call my friends.”
 
This collaboration resulted in a fourth invitation to return to Cancun from the Palace Foundation. The next trip is set for April 30, 2016.