Students from the International Medicine Society at Lincoln Memorial University-DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine (LMU-DCOM) recently returned from their second annual medical mission trip to Costa Rica. The mission, which included eight LMU-DCOM students, was an opportunity for participants to gain hands-on medical experience while working with underserved communities in Costa Rica.
The team consisted of three first-year students—Dharti Patel, Olivia Hebert, and Jaqulynn Haines—and five second-year students—Magdalena Falasca, Zachary Frazier, Sydney Bostic, Brooklynn Moody, and Celeena Memon. The students collaborated with local Costa Rican physician Dr. Diego Rojas, MD, and dentist Dr. Dayan Valle Gill to provide patient care, assist with small procedures and enhance their medical knowledge.
Magdalena Falasca, OMS II and president of the International Medicine Society, shared, "Zach, Sydney, and I attended the trip last year, which was the first time our club went to Costa Rica. We had such a great experience that we decided to return this year. Dr. Laroy Brandt in the biology department helped set up the trip, and we stayed at the Maderas Rainforest Conservancy in La Suerte, Costa Rica, where we set up the clinic and cared for patients."
Throughout the trip, the team assisted more than 70 patients by performing physical exams, taking patient histories and vitals and documenting medical information—all in Spanish.
"On arrival, I taught the students an overview of medical Spanish and how to perform physical exams in Spanish," Falasca explained. "The students did an excellent job communicating with patients, and it was great to see them applying their classroom learning in a real-world setting."
Rojas played a key role in the students’ education, with Falasca noting, "Dr. Rojas is an excellent teacher who played a huge role in our decision to return this year. He had high expectations for our team and would quiz us regularly, which helped us learn even more. We assisted with seeing patients and small procedures, and we learned so much from him about patient care and disease processes."
The team also visited a Costa Rican nursing home where they observed the unique approach to elder care in the country.
"It was a great experience to see the way elderly patients are cared for in Costa Rica," Falasca said. "The nursing home has its own garden, where patients are encouraged to grow vegetables, and we were able to speak with patients about their experiences and their love of plants, which was a really unique experience."
In addition to medical service, the students had the opportunity to engage in local culture, including learning how to make traditional Costa Rican dishes.
"We had the chance to learn to make tortillas and empanadas from scratch. A local Costa Rican woman at the Conservancy gave us a cooking class, which was such a great experience and helped us learn new healthy recipes," Falasca added.
Reflecting on the impact of the mission trip, Falasca emphasized the educational and personal growth opportunities while witnessing health care disparities in rural communities.
"Many of the patients we saw live in very rural areas without access to healthcare," Falasca noted. "It was so rewarding to provide the care they needed. Experiencing other cultures is so important for us as medical students. It helps us understand the unique challenges patients face and develop compassion and understanding beyond the classroom."
LMU-DCOM continues to encourage global health care outreach, providing students with valuable real-world experiences that will help them grow into compassionate, skilled health care professionals.
The DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine is located on the campus of Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, and at LMU-Knoxville in Knoxville, Tennessee. LMU-DCOM is an integral part of LMU’s values-based learning community and is dedicated to preparing the next generation of osteopathic physicians to provide health care in the often-underserved region of Appalachia and beyond. For more information about LMU-DCOM, call 1.800.325.0900, ext. 7082, email dcom@LMUnet.edu, or visit us online at http://med.LMUnet.edu.
