Gap Medics: Pre-medicine programs

When I first arrived, I was super nervous but the whole team put me at ease at the airport. I was greeted by Rainer with a big hug! I was in Emergency Room, Pediatric Trauma, and Anesthesiology. All of the mentors are amazing. They take their time out to explain what they are doing and their english is good. My mentors are Dr. Almonte, Dr. Feliz, Dr. Galan, Dr. Adolphus, Dr. Mendez, and Dr. Garcia. I had such a great time on the outings as well with my group. I miss them all but we all stay in touch! My new friends are from all over the world including Australia, England, New Zealand, America, and Bosnia. I enjoyed my placement so much that I ended up coming for another 4 weeks. The second time I came, Erjohnny greeted me at the airport just like Rainer with a hug and smile on his face. The staff is amazing and I miss them all so much! They became family to me. Lourdes and Marie are amazing night shift supervisors they are very friendly and personable and really look out for you. My placement coordinator Erjohnny made sure that I was happy and had a great week! Wilson is amazing at cooking and always made sure I was well fed! Gerald was very nice and funny. Even though his english is very little, I enjoyed getting to expand my Spanish with the staff. Alicia gave me some really great information in our Global Health Tutorials. I had to leave early due to a knee problem but the staff were very helpful to me. Christiana from La Romana took me to the hospital and helped me out that day. The rest of the staff helped me out during that week as I was bed rested. When I left I cried for a good 20 minutes. I love Gap Medics and highly review and recommend them! I have amazing photos of surgeries. Thank you to all of the Gap Medics staff and my new friends for a one in a lifetime experience that I won't forget! I miss you all. I would love to come back!

My trip to the Dominican Republic was such a well organised experience. Upon arrival, I was met at the airport by Edwin, who immediately made me feel at ease. I instantly felt welcomed by the other students when I arrived at the house. Over the weekend my fear was erased and excitement started to build up for my two weeks in the hospitals. The hospital placements were well organised with so much to see including surgeries, endoscopies and patients in the ER and intensive care. The mentors were helpful and explained everything and welcomed our questions. Gap medics offers so much more than just medical experience. With free time at weekends and evenings, there are so many trips that staff will happily organise for you, including a whole day trip to an island with all inclusive food and drink and boat trips either way. The trips to the orphanage to teach English was also a fantastic experience. I was able to use my minimal Spanish skills to help teach English to some enthusiastic girls. The gap medics staff were so friendly and helpful and the chef cooked delicious meals everyday. I made so many new friends (including Edwin) and memories that will last forever. A truly life changing experience.

My community placement was week 4 of the trip. Despite loving every moment of my stay in La Romana, I was beginning to feel tired and ready to go home. I was worried that Community might be overwhelming in terms of the hours and the heat. However, to my delight upon arriving on our first day our mentors greeted us with enthusiasm and excitement. They were extremely reasonable and accommodating and made it clear that our happiness and learning experience was very important to them. For the remainder of the week I got to hang out with them, share stories, learn (and stay in the shade). I got hands-on experience with real patients and was allowed to ask them questions, suggest treatments, take blood pressure, and listen to/monitor vitals. It was amazing, by far my favorite week.

Met a lot of friends I wouldn't have been able to meet :)
Being placed in a program for the 2 weeks i was there really enabled me to make close relationships with people from all around the world.
The program enabled us to have something in common, GapMedics, making it much easier to start conversations and share which field of medicine we were interested in.
Additionally, it felt like the experience flew by and yet was such a long time. It felt like I had known the other members living at the house for a much longer time than I had actually. This might be because living together enabled us to see each other constantly and make lots of memories.
What I really enjoyed was the amount of freedom GapMedics gave us. We could go to the mall and spend lots of times with friends doing what we wanted. Additionally, Krakow was lots of fun to visit!

Cholecystectomy is a surgical procedure of gall bladder removal due to various reasons including gall stones. From the morning, we followed our mentor and the general surgery team to each of the rooms to do check ups. Particularly, one of the patients was admitted and to be operated due to gall stones. We observed how the surgeon physically examined the patients bowel and despite they had a little conversation in Polish, our mentor was very enthusiastic in explaining what they discussed which made us feel part of the team. Scrub up and get into the operating theatre! We observed very closely to how the team set up and carried out the procedures with a very good, clear view of operation through a monitor as the operation involved laparoscopic work. The mentor was very patient and explained very little detail to us and was very happy to answer all of our gaps in knowledge. Overall, we had different procedures almost everyday for a week, so you can imagine how much you can learn from it.

Being able to share my fascination for science and medicine with other people isn't something I've ever really been able to do before. Meeting 50 new friends all at once who understand me was just amazing. Being able to show doctors my enthusiasm and have them tell me that they were just like me once, and that I'll be a great doctor in the future; that's something that money can't buy. I have never felt like I fit in more than I did on this placement.
Of course, the actual work experience was also amazing and very worthwhile and exciting! But the main part for me was being able to socialise with others who get it.

The month I spent in Poland was the best month i've had to learn so much and have a lot of fun. I miss it so much and hope to go back again! By far, my most favourite part was being in Neurosurgery, which I ended up doing for 2 weeks. It was absolutely amazing and I hope to be just like some of the surgeons when I grow up. I grew in confidence and learned whats its like to be in surgery. I was absolutely amazed and awstruck with the abilities of the surgeons and became mezmorized during surgery. The girls at the house were so amazing and I miss Tatianna the most because she always checked in on me and she was super easy to talk to! Thanks to Ewa the food was always the best and I never went hungry! Being in Poland confirmed my love for medicine and especially for the amazing brain and everything that it's capable of.

Upon arriving in bustling Tanzania off the back of a 23hr plane trip i was overwhelmed. Stepping out into the warm winter air of Africa on the first day and getting an authentic taxi journey (bumps & shortcuts included) to our hotel where at last i thought i could rest. Little did i know it was all just about to begin.
The staff were gracious and went out of their way to make sure every individual was feeling 100% and ready for the adventures ahead. Immeadiately i felt comfortable and part of this huge family that is Gap Medics. Our arrival at the house was warmely welcomed by the old students and the friendly on site staff, and as ancient African tradition goes we played a volleyball match to get to know everyone right after dropping our luggage in our rooms.
In my first week of placement I witnessed surgeries that would require at least 3 years of medical training just to stand as close as i did. Under the mentorship of two incredible doctors i learnt more about what it meant to be a doctor in my first day than anything i had learnt in my prior 17 years. The rest of the week went incredibly fast too and before i knew it i was off on safari, surrounded by my new friends experiencing the essence of Africa and it's uniqueness. The second week in paediatrics went by in a blur too, from cradling newborn babies to the diagnosing of young patients and watching their slow but steady path to recovery.
Of all the things that shook my world, visiting the morgue and hearing the story of a man who lost two of his friends inspire us to make use of what we have changed me the most. It showed me just how quickly life can come to an end and that everyone should make the most of it and love what you do.
Leaving the compound was a very difficult trip for me, because in my heart i felt at home and truely happy. The social experience with people was across the globe with the same interests was unprecedented and something that i will cherish for a long time. I can't recommend this program enough for those that think medicine is the career for them or even those who are uncertain.