June 30, 2014
Don Downing and UW pharmacy students lead medical brigade in Nicaragua
Clinical Professor, Don Downing, along with 40 UW Pharmacy students, 2 Seattle physicians, 2 additional Seattle pharmacists, and a physical therapist came together to provide global medical care in the remote village of Namanji, Nicaragua, from June 16th through June 22nd 2014. Supported by Seattle-based Global Brigades, these self-funded students and providers provided care to almost 900 patients – many of whom traveled great distances to receive basic health care.
This isn’t the first time Downing has traveled to Central America as a mentor to students interested in providing health care and medicines in resource-limited populations. In 2011, he traveled with UW pharmacy students on a brigade to Honduras. Says Downing of his travels to Central and South America, “they have provided our students with a new perspective of unmet health care needs in low resource countries in the course of providing assistance with at least some of these needs. Many of our students now come to me with newly informed ideas of how more sustainable and effective services might be realized.”
