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Second Mission Trip 2018

Students:
1. julia tao, emmaly nguyen, dean alamy, jacqueline duong, kenneth yang
2. michael wong, adam alamy, ethan nguyen, matthew ongkeko, matt cheng
3. nate chang, ryan tao, alex duong, michael lee, christian hwang
4. cas hom, cameron kim, gabriela carroll, xitlali carroll
​Doctors:
1. Family medicine | dr. ching-yu lin, dr. jessie zhang
2. internal medicine | dr. david liu
3. pediatrics | Dr. Mary Tao
4. OBGYN | Dr. Chau-Hui Liu, Dr. Virginia Lee
5. General Dentistry | dr. tracy nguyen
6. occupational therapy | Ms. Cassandra huynh
7. Pharmacy | ms. cam duong

Day 8: Flight Back

6/30/2018

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Julia Tao
After waking up at 2 AM to pack, everyone got on the bus to go to the airport (I slept the whole way). At the airport, we drank a lot of grapefruit juice and everyone tried some 85% chocolate. Almost our entire group got on the Delta flight, which was about 4 hours long.
I have learned so much from this year's trip, and with our larger group, we were able to impact so many more people. Seeing all of these patients in Belize, the children without shoes, and the lack of healthy food and knowledge of healthy eating has allowed me to realize just how privileged I am and how much I take for granted back at home. Planning these missions and going back each year to learn and improve on the last trips has given me so much joy, knowing that I am impacting at least a few lives for the better. I hope ABC can keep growing and allow us to help these precious people as much and for as long as possible.

Matt Cheng
Now, I have arrived at LAX airport waiting for my Uber. I have had a wonderful trip making friends and helping others with joy. Thank you, everybody, who went, supported, and helped me along the way. Now that I am back in the states, kudos to God for the bringing me there and back safely.

Emmaly Nguyen
This trip has taught me so much more than I thought it would. From giving out medication, to teaching people how to change their lifestyle for the better, to taking their vitals, this experience has really changed me. It’s such an incredible feeling, knowing that I can really help these people. I know that these acts are small (in terms of what we could do if we had the right equipment, time, and money), but it shows me that I have the ability to change someone. If I could go back to do more, I definitely would.

Kenneth Yang
It was our last day and most of us were tired. We got in the bus around 2 am to head out to the airport. The ride was 4 hours and many of us were knocked out in the bus. When we arrived at the airport, everyone was going around getting souvenirs and snacks to eat. Everyone was laughing and talking, trying to get each other’s phone numbers so we could contact one another. As soon as we arrived we all said our farewells. I had to say goodbye to my good friend Tyler, his sister Addyson, Ryan’s cousin Sierra, Ariel, Matthew, Cameron, Christian, Emmaly, her cousin Jacqueline, her brother and many more. Although the end of the trip was sad, the trip itself was amazing and i feel good that I helped Belizean patients through the week.

Jacqueline Duong

In all honesty, I really wanted this trip to be a life changing experience, but I would be an idealist if I said it was. There were so many things I felt like I wanted to do for the people that I couldn’t do because we were just limited. Even on the last days of the clinic when people had to wait so long for their medication, and I had to call them up just to say, “sorry we have no medication for you, please take this prescription to your local pharmacy and they’ll take care of you.” - it just didn’t feel right. We came to make a difference, to not only help people that needed help, but to inspire young children to follow their dreams. I felt like the little things meant a lot, but there were so many little things that we couldn’t provide for them. Even though I know it’s not my fault or anyone’s fault, it’s kind of heartbreaking. 
Even though I don’t feel like I’ve truly impacted anyone’s life, I am confident that I can make a difference. This trip has inspired me to go back home and work hard, so that every year I can go and try to change one life at a time. I realize that change isn’t easy and saving lives isn’t an instantaneous process, but it’s worth working towards. 
I wholeheartedly enjoyed this trip, not only because of the medical experience I have gained, but also the people I have met. All of the volunteers I have worked alongside were special in their own ways. They were all talented and unique and funny. Even though some of them weren’t THAT nice, I’m confident that I have made friendships that I will hold onto forever. 
​I can’t wait to go to more mission trips in the near future, whether it be to Belize or any other country, it was an experience that I 100 percent loved and am grateful I had the opportunity to be part of
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Day 7: Coral Caye

6/29/2018

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Julia Tao
After getting ready today, everyone got on the truck to go to the main pier. This time, the boat was fully covered and the ride was not that bumpy. When we got there, everyone rested and recovered from the medical mission. I played with my little cousins, sang songs, and slept on the hammock. At 5, everyone left on the boat to go back to Placencia. When we arrived, we walked down boardwalk to Cozy Corner to eat dinner. After dinner, I went with my cousins to Tutti Frutti for ice cream and then took them back to their place across the lagoon. Afterwards, I went with some other students to the soccer field to play soccer (two locals joined in as well) then walked back to Sunset Pointe to pack, sleep, and wake up to pack again

Kenneth Yang
After the four days of hard work and effort, the last day was a time for relaxation for all of us. Most of us went deep sea fishing, hung out at Mrs. and Mr. Tao’s island that we were so privileged to stay for the day, or slept in the hammocks and regaining all the energy we spent throughout the week. Majority of the volunteers, including my friends and I, were leaving at 2 am in the morning. We decided to try and do an all nighter, fishing and hanging around with friends as it was our last time staying in Belize with everyone. Gabriela, Dean, Xitllalli, Julia, Ryan, and I ended up playing soccer with the local Belizeans. We decided to give a ball to them as a gift before we were off back to the US. When Dean, Ryan, and I arrived back to our rooms, most of us took a good nap and couldn’t stay up for the rest of the night. However, we each woke up to talk with some friends and walk around. To top the night off, Adam decided to fish and caught a huge snapper, something that ended the trip with a bang
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Day 6: Snorkeling, Seaweed+Coral Education, Cayes

6/28/2018

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Julia Tao
After getting ready this morning, everyone walked to the little thatch area near the lagoon to put on sunscreen and wait for the boat. When the boat arrived, we all got on (it was a pretty large boat that was half covered in the front and uncovered in the back). It took 40 minutes to get to the snorkeling location, and there were a lot of choppy waves, but we saw a stingray, a turtle, and some nurse sharks. After snorkeling, we took the boat to Little Water Caye to see and learn about the seaweed growing and drying process. While we were there, I interviewed TJ and Orlando about the seaweed growing and planting methods. Afterwards, the boat took us to Laughing Bird Caye for lunch, which was grilled chicken, potatoes, salad, and orange juice. After lunch, some of the students skipped stones in the water. We then took the boat to Coral Caye, and there was a lot of sea spray on the way there. When we got there, we listened to Ms. Mariko talk about coral planting methods, rested on hammocks, and watched Orlando fish. Then, we took the boat back to Placencia (and there was a lot of sea spray again). Immediately when we got back, we went on the bus to La Dolce Vita for dinner. After getting back to Sunset Pointe, I went swimming with my cousins (Sierra and Aria) and then watched fishing for a little while (Dean caught something that looked like a toadfish). We then took the rowboat back to the other side and went to bed.

Jacqueline Duong

After several long days of hard work, we were finally done with the clinic! But our learning wasn’t over, as we went to learn about the environment and marine biology of Belize. I enjoyed the speed boat ride, because it was definitely more of a relaxing yet thrilling experience compared to what happened earlier in the week. I didn’t go into the water too much, but I have no regrets. 
Overall, to summarize this trip, one thing I would change is my fear of dogs. In Belize there are dogs everywhere, and I am actually so afraid of dogs. It’s pretty sad when people ask me if I’m allergic, and I just say I’m afraid. And then people ask me if I got bitten, and I’m just like no...I got chased…? So long story short, everywhere there was a dog, I was not there. I was almost 100 percent successful with staying away from dogs, except right before we left Coral Caye, I was avoiding the dog but it kept chasing me and then everyone was like “just stop and she won’t follow you,” so I stopped, closed my eyes, and thank God - I did not get bitten.
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Day 5: Seine Bight

6/27/2018

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Julia Tao
Today, we went in the back of the truck to The Shak and ate breakfast, and then got on the bus for 15 minutes to get to Seine Bight. At Seine Bight, we set up upstairs and I started doing intake. There were a lot of people, and I was able to translate quite a bit and because many people either wanted to get their blood sugar checked or had a history of diabetes, I did a lot of blood sugar testing as well. To do blood sugar testing, you first put a strip into the glucometer with the small line going vertically down the middle facing out. Then you wipe down the finger with an alcohol wipe. Next, you uncap a lancet and use it to prick the finger, then squeeze until you get a drop of blood. You need to wait until the glucometer has a blinking blood droplet and then hold the strip of paper to the finger and fill up the entire line of the strip with blood. While you wait for the reading, have the patient hold a new alcohol wipe to their finger to staunch the bleeding. Finally, you need to throw all needles, bloody alcohol wipes, and the blood strip into the sharps container. An important step is asking the patient when they last ate, as that will impact the reading as well. Lunch today was chicken, rice and beans, a cupcake, and some salad. When we were cleaning up for the clinic, a kid sliced his right middle toe from his foot on a piece of glass. He had to get stitches because he cut an artery, so the adults held him down while Dr. Chau-hui Liu gave him 2 stitches. Unfortunately there was no way to do anesthesia, so he had to bear the pain. He was very scared, and we didn't want to traumatize the other little Belizean kids who were there or have them make him more nervous, so we had them wait outside. It was successful, and after everything was cleaned and packed up, we went outside to take pictures. Some of students play-fought with the little Belizean children, and they didn't want us to leave! While we were playing with the children, we noticed that many of them didn't have any shoes, like the little boy who cut his foot. Hopefully next year we can bring some footwear to help protect their feet. We then got on the bus and drove to Placencia, and brought back all of the medications. After a while, we took the truck to Cozy Corner to eat dinner (a lot of people were cracking open coconuts to eat). After dinner, I went back and slept while the other students fished.

Matt Cheng
The last day on helping people, we went to a community center and I shadowed the pharmacist again. The highlight of that day was when a child with a piece of glass he stepped on while playing soccer barefoot. I felt bad for him because he was writhing on the ground with about five people who had to hold him down during his surgery. After that, I gave him a whole entire bag full of chocolate and helped him. Even though he had to endure such pain and there was a lot of blood loss, it was all worth the effort. He left that one clinic brand new with bandages on his foot instead of glass.

Emmaly Nguyen

The last station I was at was the vitals/intake station. Here, I asked the patient about their reason for their visit, whether they were exposed to different things, etc. I also assisted in taking their blood pressure, heart rate, as well as blood oxygen percentage. I was a little scared at first, because I had trouble hearing some of their answers, and I was afraid I would take their vitals incorrectly. By the end of the day, I was comfortable with my actions. ​

Ethan Nguyen
The last and final day of working at a clinic. This particular clinic was a very surprising one. I still worked at pharmacy for three day because I wasn’t very interested with following doctors around. When most of the normal day passed, a friend ran around asking if we want to play football, and of course, Matt and I said yes. We went outside and we met a man. I forgot his name but we will call him T’Challa or “Black Panther” because he looked exactly like Chadwick Boseman. Anyway we were talking about how more people know Neymar Jr. than people know Lebron James. When we were talking to him and a man named Eric, my dad called me up to see something important. At this moment, I couldn’t take the feeling of seeing a little boy who got a chunk of glass stuck in his foot from playing football. Soon, Dr. Liu Sr. helped him and he was alright. When we were about to leave, many kids learn fighting moves from Ryan and were sad we were leaving, even though we were going to come back next year.
This was the most memorable event that took place on this trip but i'm glad I experienced it. With all of this going on I still want to become a dentist because many people came and asked for a dentist on the first trip. ON this trip I learned many things from learning how to take someone's blood oxygen to counting pills. Overall, this was the greatest experience ever and I would definitely do it again.
Dr. Tao
Last day of medical mission. The team was boarding our bus. A group of local kids surrounded the bus not wanting the team to leave. I stayed behind and gathered all the kids to me for their safety while the bus slowly exited onto the main road.
“Would you like us to come back next time?”, I asked. “Yeah!”, exclaimed the kids unanimously. “When would you like us to return, next year?” “Next week!”, “Tomorrow!”, they said. Touched by their spirit, I said “would you like us to bring anything next time?“. “Stickers?” “Yeah!” “Tattoos like the ones you got today?” “Yeah!” I heard a small voice amongst the excitement, “food”. I turned to the little boy in the yellow shirt. “Food? What kind of food?”, thinking he meant chocolate or candies. “Chicken, rice and beans,” he said licking his lips with a sparkle in his eyes. The Belizean stewed chicken, rice & beans dish is actually a plateful of rice mixed with beans and an addition of 2 tiny salty chicken pieces.
Finally I was able to board the bus. Watching those children waving their little arms to say goodbye to us, I picked up the microphone and looked at those exhausted faces in the bus. “What would you guys like for dinner?” No response. “Lobsters?” A few cheers. “Stewed chicken, rice and beans?” “Yuck!” Can’t blame them. That’s our stable for every single lunch and a few of the dinners over the past few days. Honestly just the thought of it makes me lose my own appetite.
I shared what I just heard from the little boy with the group. Suddenly there’s silence in the bus. A few people were crying quietly.
Seine Bight, we will be back!
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​​(Dr. Tao continued...)
This clinic is a chaos! I feel like I was in the ER show where every two steps I would get stopped to handle some emergency situations.
2:30 PM, everyone’s exhausted. This is our last clinic for the medical mission. It has been extremely busy and exhausting for the past four days. “Close the clinic”, I told the students at the intake station. “Start packing up!”
Suddenly, there’s a loud crying scream! In the center of the room is Dr. Liu Sr. telling a boy in black to not move. Students, patients, many local kids quickly gathered around to watch the drama. “Don’t poke me!” “You need to be stitched up! You’re bleeding heavily!” Indeed, a messy pattern of blood quickly formed around them as the boy thrashed in fear. Two nurses from our team quickly went over and helped grab the patient. We are so blessed this year to have these excellent nurses from Long Beach Memorial Hospital who not only instinctively jumped to their duties whenever needed but tirelessly taught our students good patient care. I learned that this boy has been playing soccer all day outside of the clinic grass field. Periodically he and other kids would poke in their heads to see what we were doing. He stepped on a broken glass and got a deep laceration on his right great toe.
As the crowd gathered around him, the boy grew more anxious. A few students stepped in to try to help grab him. “Put on gloves!”, I yelled over the chaos. “Always be careful around blood!” The room is now a mad house! More local kids came inside to look. I told the students to take all the kids outside. “Let’s count to 10!, I said to the boy, “doctor will be done suturing you when you count to ten.” “Let’s count together.” “One, two, three...” Yay, he listened. “Five, nine, ten, how come he’s not done?!”, the boy started to get anxious again. “You didn’t count right.” “Let’s try again. One, two, ..., ten.” Dr. Liu Sr is done! Wow, I always heard about my dad being a great doctor but never knew he can suture this fast!
After cleaning up the bloody mess, I walked downstairs to find some plastic bag to cover the boy’s foot as it had rained earlier, the dirt road is now muddy, and the boy doesn’t have shoes. A group of little kids quickly gathered around me. “Can we have more stickers?” “Sure.” As I started handing out stickers, my pen dropped onto the ground. A little boy in a yellow shirt picked up the pen, carefully clicked it back onto my shirt’s front pocket. “How is he?” “Who?” “The boy upstairs.” “This is his little brother,” another kid said. “You know we grabbed your brother and stitched him up not because we went to hurt him right?”, he nodded with his big bright eyes full of trust. “His toe got cut by glass and if we don’t sew him back, he would bleed a lot. That’s why it’s important to wear shoes!” I looked down at these kids’ feet. No shoes. “Why are you guys not wearing shoes? Where are your shoes?” My son doesn’t like to wear shoes and I always scold him for being lazy to put on his shoes. “I have 2 shoes!”, exclaimed one boy. “I have one pair!”, said a little girl. “Why are you not wearing them! It’s very important to wear your shoes!” The little kids looked at me not saying anything. My pen dropped again. The boy in the yellow shirt picked up my pen and carefully clipped onto my front pocket. “Thank you.” He smiled back.
Later during dinner, one of the students who was hanging out with these kids told me that most of them only have 1 pair of shoes, and they only wear them during school time or important occasions. Some don’t even have shoes.
I recalled earlier an American social worker had dropped by to introduce to me her group who visits the town every 3 months. “We operate a feeding program.” “Oh great! I have a baby here who appears to have severe reflux. Can you guys teach these moms how to feed their babies?” “Oh, not that type of feeding program,” she said. “We literally come every 3 months to feed these kids food such as chicken.” “Majority of these kids are too poor to eat anything other than rice & beans, if they get any food at all. Unfortunately due to our funding, we can only afford to feed them every 3 months,” she said with a sigh.
Food and shoes. I cannot imagine a mere 4.5 hour flight from LAX we’d encounter a world that is only supposed to exist on National Geographic.
Seine Bight, you will always have a spot in my heart from now on.

Jacqueline Duong

On the last day at Seine Bight, it was a completely different experience for me. I was super engaged and constantly working at the intake station. I had less opportunities to connect with the patients, but I truly enjoyed the thrill of nonstop work. I learned how to take blood sugar that day as well, and I definitely was not excited to do so. I’m not particularly afraid of needles, but I was afraid of possibly inflicting pain on someone that I didn’t even know personally. Unfortunately, my fears were confirmed when my first few patients had to endure quite a few pokes before the job got done, but I soon got the hang of it. The day ended with a little boy getting cut with some glass outside and having to get stitches right then and there without any anesthetics...it was quite chaotic and heartbreaking to see the child in so much pain...That definitely was not my favorite part of the day, and it really made me feel so helpless. There was really nothing me or any of the other students could’ve done except watch and listen to the child scream will the doctors tried to contain him and stitch him up.

Alex Duong

The last clinic in Toledo had the biggest effect on me as it was the least developed area that we had visited. Despite being in Belize, many of us learned that many of the patients had been born in countries such as Guatemala because they had escaped as slaves. This was the poorest area, and many of these people had been neglected by the rest of the country as outcasts. The reason I learned the most this day was because I was able to shadow several accomplished doctors who were at the top of their fields. Specifically, one patient’s husband had had several accidents in the past, and his leg was in bad condition as there was a large open skin wound from a car accident that he had. Upon arriving to his household, we noticed how cramped it was despite having a family with several children. The man’s leg was immobilized due to the open skin wound even exposing bone, and his wife had to take about ten minutes simply to clean the wound and to reapply another bandage. Despite the painful looking process, the man was able to make jokes while calmly responding to the doctor’s jokes, and truly taught me a valuable lesson about how fortunate I was to live in the United States. The patient already had several surgeries prior to the accident, and was ready to have another one two days after we visited him. In contrast to his harsh circumstances, the man and his wife both had positive attitudes, and were very professional. The man was one of the strongest people I have ever encountered due to his endurance to the extreme pain that he experienced on a daily basis, while his wife was able to clean and take care of his leg with the skill of a medical professional in the United States simply by observing the nurses do the process once. What this taught me was to have courage and demeanor in the toughest times. It taught me to stay positive even when it sames that there is no hope left. Despite living in a developing country without the proper technology, the family was still smiling and living their lives. As a result, I want to become a doctor in order to help people keep their lives in order. I don’t want to allow mishaps to happen that ruin people’s lives, and even though I might not have the opportunity to see such an extreme scale again, I hope I can use my knowledge in order to shape myself into a doctor of the future.
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Day 4: Golden Stream Village

6/26/2018

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Julia Tao
Today everyone ate breakfast on the bus and drove 2 hours to the Golden Stream clinic (with the patients of Mayan descent). When we arrived, there was a table laid out with lots of leaves. Antonio talked about their different medicinal properties--one of them apparently cured cancer! Afterwards we set up all the tables and because there were so many people waiting in line, I ended up doing Intake rather than Medical Education at first. I saw a lot of families and also learned how to do blood sugar with the AccuCheck; people there called it "sweet blood." Lunch was soup (caldo) with tortilla and rice. During lunch, Mr. Nguyen and Mr. Diep found mangos the size of a person's face and a humongous jackfruit. They shared some of the jackfruit with the group and it was very sweet and delicious. After lunch, I went back in and helped with medical education. I mostly talked about the rainbow diet and food pyramid (the bottom of the pyramid (protein) is big, which means that you should eat lots of it, and the top (carbs) is small, so that means you should only eat a little bit), how to properly lift heavy items in order to prevent back problems, proper posture when sitting at a computer, how to look far away and then back when working on electronics, and some pregnancy information (iron, calcium, and folic acid are important when pregnant). Many of the children in Golden Stream were a little shy and didn't talk very much, but it was worth it to see the joy on their faces when learning about the food pyramid and rainbow diet, and them taking the pamphlet afterwards. Around 3:30 we started packing up, and then we got on the bus and drove to Happy Ranch for dinner. Afterwards, we kept driving in the bus back to Placencia. When we got back, the students changed into their swimsuits and went across the lagoon to the other side with some very pungent bait shrimp to fish with. For a little while there was a power outage, so we went onto the roof to see the stars. It was actually really amazing to see Belize's natural beauty without artificial light; the stars are so much brighter here without all the pollution. When the power came back on, we took the ferry across to the other side's dock. Everyone fished for a while, and I made a couple of traps for minnows with Michael Lee. Kenneth caught and released another jellyfish and Xitlali caught her first fish! It was really large. Afterwards, we went in a rowboat back across to the other side and swam in the pool for a while before going to bed.

Matt Cheng
Today, we went to a Mayan village called golden stream in which I shadowed the pharmacist and counted pills with a spatula and a tray. The people there had unsafe drinking water that came from the river. Also, the village doctor gave a little talk on his herbs and how one of them could cure cancer. When I shadowed my mom, there was a girl who had chicken pox. My mom diagnosed her by seeing the blisters on the papule which is called vesicles. We don’t see this much in America because most people are vaccinated against chickenpox.

Ethan Nguyen
The third clinic was a day that the pharmacy struggled, and where is was working at. By the third day, the entire group was tired of eating beans, rice, and stew chicken but we managed for the rest of the trip. At the beginning, a herbalist showed us all the different types of herbs that can help with diarrhea, headaches, toothaches, stomachaches, and also claim to have a herb that could cure cancer. The day got even hotter than before and before we knew it the day was over. I got to learn more about the types of medications and what they are for. For instance, ibuprofen is for helping reduce the amount of pain, while Aller-tec cleared congestions and allergies.

Jacqueline Duong

As I went on to the next day of clinic at the Kekchi Mayan Village, my group was in charge of patient education, and this was really a huge turning point for me. So many parents said that their kids weren’t eating, or weren’t growing, or just weren’t healthy. For every patient, I saw myself explaining how important diet was like “rainbow of foods”, and “no fried chicken”, but there was only so much I could tell them. No matter how much I wanted them to eat some good beef, they didn’t have beef. If I wanted them to eat strawberries they didn’t even have them. At times I felt frustrated because as much as I wanted to teach them, their circumstances restricted them from truly becoming the healthiest little boy or girl their parents wanted them to be.
About 2 hours into the day I was already exhausted because of how much talking I had to do to so many little kids and their parents. Believe me - I love to talk, but this was really something foreign to me. In a sense, it was like I was in charge of teaching this little boy or girl so that they could grow to be big and strong. But there were some moments, that just made me want to keep talking. For example, this little girl came with her mom and really didn’t want to listen to me. She just stared at me with a lost look in her eyes, not understanding anything. I really just wanted to ignore her confusion and move on, but I looked at her paper and saw that she had issues with her eyes and needed sunglasses. So to get her engaged, I took out my own sunglasses and put them on to show her “how cool I looked with sunglasses on”. She started laughing, most likely because of the fact that I didn’t look very cool, but from that point on, she was smiling and listening to me talk about how she should always go outside and play with her friends but don’t forget her sunglasses because they are just too cool. In addition, in this village, fried chicken was a really common food amongst kids and adults alike. For some of the kids, I remember that my cousin and I would say things like “hey you like fried chicken? Cool well don’t eat it anymore”. The kids would be so confused and their parents would laugh, but then I would “flex my muscles” and show them how if you eat healthy and no fried chicken, they could grow big and strong like me. Every time I got a smile out of someone’s face, it gave me will power to make at least one more person smile. And to me, behind every smile was someone who was willing to listen and learn.

Alex Duong
On the second day, I had a similar experience as I was brought back to intake in the Mayan village we visited due to an overflow of young students who needed checkups, and many of the residents had the same recurring problems such as back pain, stomachaches, and headaches. However, I learned more on this day due to the Mayan medicine that was explained to us. The village medicine man showed us a variety of about twenty leaves used for healing, and explained that there were about eighty or so leaves that had the same effects. By boiling them to make tea, these various types of leaves had effects ranging from curing a cough to resolving cancer. Although these the techniques were not proven by modern methods, I learned the diversity of medicine’s scope and how different healing methods were around the world. Although many would disregard these ways as ancient, outdated, and ineffective, my point of view has helped me to learn to embrace such devices as they work well despite lack of proof.
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Day 3: Placencia Community Center

6/25/2018

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Julia Tao
Today, we rode in the back of the truck to The Shak to have breakfast, and then walked to the Placencia Community Center to set up. Instead of the wait numbers today, we used the new system. Even though my team was supposed to be in Station 2 following the doctors today, I helped with intake because there are fewer people at the Placencia clinic than at the other clinics, so the doctors didn't have as many patients. Near lunchtime, I and a few students went to Brewed Awakenings to pick up the seaweed shakes (sunrise and/or espresso) to bring back to the group. Lunch was chicken, beans and rice, and potato salad. Because there were not many patients, I had some free time, so I tried to teach the younger children (Aria and Addyson) how to use the blood pressure cuff. I used my arm to show them, and my blood pressure was 146/96, which indicated that I had high blood pressure. I also had a heart rate of 110. (This was actually because of the espresso coffee seaweed shake!) 
​Later on in the day, there was a case of appendicitis, where the man had had pain in his lower right abdomen for 3-4 days. Because it was a serious case, we sent him to the hospital in a boat. One patient came in in a wheelchair because she had been born without legs. She explained that her mother had malaria when she was pregnant, but she didn't know that she was pregnant at the time. The mother went to the doctor who prescribed her malaria medication; however, this caused the baby to not form properly and the baby ended up not having legs. From these two cases and others from the day before, I saw just how crucial proper medical care in Belize was, and I am really glad that our team is able to help the lives of these precious people here. 
After the clinic, we walked back to Sunset Pointe and rested before walking to the bus to go to dinner at Dolce Vita. After eating, everyone walked out to the La Positano beach and some of the students jumped into the water to swim in the waves. Back at Sunset Pointe, we swam in the pool and then took the boat over to the other side of the lagoon with the other students to watch. Kenneth caught a large, clear jellyfish. Surprisingly, it didn't sting! We also jumped into the water from the dock. Afterwards, we had to take rowboat back across the lagoon to get back to our places to sleep. 


Matt Cheng
Today, we stayed at Placencia and went to the community center to help out the people of Placencia. When I was there, I shadowed my mom, the doctor and learned how to perform medical exams to make diagnoses. The highlight of the day is when a patient walked in with right lower quadrant abdominal pain for three days. The exam showed positive rebound tenderness. Jackie, a nurse, and I took the patient diagnosed with appendicitis to Independence where an ambulance took him to the hospital. If we took a car, it would have taken several hours just to get to the hospital. In the middle of the boat ride, it broke down because the engine ran low on gas, so we got onto another fisherman’s boat in which they took us to the mainland. I stayed calm and gave him my sunglasses

Ethan Nguyen

Today the dentist had come to help see patients. This day was not as hectic as the first day but it was still a pretty hard day. Since we were in a much smaller room, the heat was very high. I started to help out with the pharmacy station and it was more crazy than intake which was not what I was expecting. I also got to meet a doctor, who was one of the 300 doctors in Belize. Compared to countries like the U.S.,  Belize does not have as many people as you think. The Population of Belize is around 300,000 people which only under 300 are doctors. After the day was over we relaxed and had the rest of the day off.

Jacqueline Duong

Before attending this trip to Belize, I had a very limited knowledge of the type of impact that a high school student like me could have on a person. I’ve always wanted to become a doctor because it’s what is expected of kids like me these days, but after the trip, I have a newfound respect and passion for medicine. 
I have never been anywhere away from home that wasn’t for a vacation, so the more humble living conditions played a vital role in my experience in Belize. I never realized how blessed and lucky I was to have what I have and live the kind of life that I did, even before the first day of clinic.
On the first day of clinic, I worked at the pharmacy station, and I quickly realized that a lot of people had similar issues - pain, allergies, diabetes, etc. I understood the importance of pharmacists, as medication is often key for treating illness and such, but at that point, I didn’t quite feel any personal impact that I had towards the patients.

Alex Duong
As a high school student, I never had much medical experience prior to going to my first overseas clinical experience in Belize. My dad is a doctor of internal medicine, and I know several other doctors who are relatives and friends. Despite this, I never really knew that much about the medical process. All I knew was that I wanted to be a doctor and that I wanted to save lives.
​Upon arriving in Placencia, I immediately saw the huge disrepancy of a developing country against the advancements of the United States. People lived very simple lives, and most people were satisfied with low wages without many wants. Since we came one day late, my family and I missed the first clinic in Independence, and I really had no idea of what to expect in my first clinic in Placencia.
​The first clinic for me on the trip was in Placencia, and it could not have been a better and more educating experience than I dreamed of. On my first day, my team was assigned to patient intake and vital signs. From the onset, Belizean patients flowed in to see doctors and the dentist, and we were the first stage to pass in the hot tropical weather. We talked to each patient and received basic information such as their name and their family’s basic medical history. However, I also was able to practice with equipment and tools in order to check vitals to blood pressure. Even after only seeing a few patients, I saw a general trend that developed. People didn’t know what mold or chemicals were, and there was a developing pattern of people who had back pain and headaches. These patterns helped to open my eyes and taught me about the difficulties that people in countries such as Belize had to face. Even though they lived relatively simple lives, many still worked strenuous jobs and did not have proper healthcare. Since workers earned low wages, doctors and dentists were often too expensive and proper medicine often was not always available.
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Day 2: Independence High School

6/24/2018

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Julia Tao
This morning, everyone got on the truck to eat breakfast at the Shak, and everyone wore their green shirts and name tags today. After breakfast, everyone got on the bus and drove for an hour (while the doctors lectured the group) to Independence High School for clinic. We were a little late and there were a lot of people waiting already (nearly 100 people were standing in line), so we all set up very fast and started taking in patients. We later learned that many of these patients had started waiting hours before the clinic opened, and many of these patients were not seen until late afternoon. This first day we learned that the wait number cards (small laminated cards with the name of a doctor, their specialties, and a number 1 through 36) did not work very well due to the fact that many of them got lost after being given to patients. My team (Dean, Kenneth, Emmaly) was in Station 2 today, so followed I followed my grandfather, Dr. Chau-hui Liu. Kenneth and Emmaly worked in pharmacy, and Dean followed Ms. Huynh, the Occupational Therapist. There was a young mom who came in with a benign lipoma on her left buttock and wanted to get it removed because it hurt her when she rode her bike. We went into a private room to perform the surgery, and Dr. Chau-hui Liu and I put on sterile gloves. He started by sterilizing the lipoma with iodine wipes and then he wiped it all off with alcohol pads. Next, he injected lidocaine all around the abscess (it was a saltwater needle, but he sprayed out all of the saltwater and took lidocaine from a glass bottle instead). Then he starting cutting it out with scissors because he didn't have a knife, while I helped to staunch the bleeding with sterile alcohol pads. After that, he got out the suture kit and sutured it up -- I cut the strings for each stitch at 1 cm up. Finally, he wiped it all off, put 3 bandaids on, 1 gauze, and then 2 more bandaids. After the surgery, we ate lunch, which was rice with beans, chicken,  fried plantain slice, some spicy onions, and potato salad. There was a dog there that stole and ate a whole box of someone's food! After lunch, I kept helping Dr. Liu. I helped with some translations (There were some people who spoke only Spanish, so I had to try to translate Spanish to English in my head and then to Chinese--it was very hard!). There was also another small surgery of a man's finger to remove a woodchip--and he didn't want anesthesia! At around 3:30, we started packing up the place -- pharmacy was really backed up, so everyone helped them after we finished packing the other areas. When it was all done, we went onto the bus and I talked to nurses about the wait number conflict to try and fix it and decided that intake should have 1 paper with tick marks to track number of patients each doctor has gotten. Then we would write the doctor name and the patient's number onto the patient form. After clinic, we took the bus back to Placencia and ate dinner at Wendy's. The Duong family arrived today, so I added Jacqueline Duong to my team and Alex Duong to Team Nate Cheng. After dinner, we went to the pier again to watch/do fishing. Kenneth and Dean decided to go back because Kenneth had lost his reel in the water. So we went back and got supplies from their room, and when we went back out, a dog named Star followed us all the way back to the pier! (We didn't find the wallet unfortunately). There were two large tarpons in the water but no one caught any. At the pier, I ran into Kerwin and another person who came with him who said that he was also running a medical mission from Mexico, and wanted to know how we were doing. Cas and I talked to him and gave him the ABC facebook site. Afterwards, we walked back to our rooms and went to bed.

Matt Cheng
On the first day of clinic in Independence, about 100 people had already been waiting in line at Independence High School. I had been helping with the intake station in an open-aired gym with no AC. I helped to fill out forms and take vitals on our patients. Some information that I took includes their blood pressure, their temperature and their weight. In all, there were probably 300 people that went through our “hospital”. This was the first time I have worked hard for 7 hours straight with a 10 minute lunch break. In addition to most English speaking Belizean patients, there were some Spanish speaking patients from Guatemala and Honduras. 

Emmaly Nguyen
Wake up. Go to Grandma’s house. Do some math or SAT practice. Eat. Go to sleep. Repeat. This is what I thought my summer was going to be, same as every other. A few months before school ended, my mom came to me and asked if I were interested in a medical mission in Belize, and I agreed.
Time flew by, and before I knew it, I had arrived in Belize. I stepped off our bus, and in front of me stood a ginormous, open gym. Our first clinic was at Independence High School, and there was already a line of people waiting to see the doctor. The doctors had their own mini offices, the students had their stations (we rotated stations every day), and the smaller kids were in charge of the gift station. I was in a group with Julia Tao, Kenneth Yang, and Dean Alamy (we had another group member, but she was coming a day later). Our station for the first day was Pharmacy, with Mrs. Nguyen (my mom). It was a little hectic setting up, so Julia and Dean shadowed doctors, while Kenneth and I did Pharmacy. The job was to give the patient the needed amount of medication, and to write down instructions on how to take the medication on a notecard. I’ll be honest, I had no idea what to do. I looked at what the doctor had prescribed to the patient, and my mind went blank. I had looked at the shorthand doctors used, but I was so lost. Kenneth and I were confused, but luckily my mom was there to help. Some problems that we encountered during that clinic: 
     □  Doctor shorthand takes some time to understand. It’s not that it’s difficult to understand, you just need to do it multiple times before you really get it.
We had no idea where the drugs were. The drugs were lined up behind us, but we didn’t know which drug was where. The student to adult ratio was 2:1, so it was difficult for my mom to help both Kenneth and I at the same time.
    □  We had no idea how many drugs to give if the doctor didn’t say so specifically. For some drugs like ibuprofen, amoxicillin, you usually give 30 tablets/capsules, but unfortunately Kenneth and I didn’t know that so we were just very confused.
     □  My mom was the only pharmacist and was swarmed with tasks. Like I said before, the student to adult ratio is 2:1. Not only did she have to help us decipher the doctor’s prescription (and sometimes handwriting), she had to check to make sure that we wrote down the right instructions. She was so busy, she didn’t even get to eat lunch.
     □  Our waiting system did not work. The first day, we saw about 200 patients, and our pharmacy was slow, having only one person who actually knew what she was doing. We tried giving out numbers, but we only had numbers #1-30. Our plan was to reuse the numbers, but it just created a mess. People were complaining (and I don’t blame them) about how they waited for a long time, and when we tried to explain our system, some argued back, so my dad had to keep an eye on who was coming up to receive their medicine. Even when we were closing up the clinic, we still had about 20 people waiting because of the number problem.
     □  Doctors didn’t know what medicine the pharmacy carried. This issue didn’t occur too often, but it was a  hassle to go back to the doctor and ask them to prescribe something else. 
     □  The Pharmacy station couldn’t receive any help from others. To really help our station, we would need people who knew what they were doing. Kenneth and I were getting better at pharmacy, but knowing how long it took us to finally get it, it wouldn’t help if people came and tried to help. Also, my mom can only handle 2 kids, so it would just be more of a burden on her.
This day was probably the most impactful on me, because I honestly learned the most from this day. I learned that my mom’s job being a pharmacist isn’t easy, especially if people aren’t willing to be patient. I learned how to transcribe doctor shorthand (it’s much easier now), and the basics of pharmaceuticals. I also learned that the medicine I am giving out can change people’s lives. Honestly, this day made me feel like I was actually making a difference. It gives me a good feeling, knowing that I can use my position in the world to help those who need it.

​Ethan Nguyen
The first day was personally my favorite day by far. I got to learn many things I wouldn’t have ever known. This trip had taught me how to take the following vitals needed: weight, height, temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen, and respiratory rate. I also learned that any of the people that came were in need of a dentist and most have never seen a doctor. The dentist wasn’t going to show up until the very next day. This affected me because I wanted to help these people who needed medical assistance but we were not allowed to give more than a thirty day supply of medicine. Through the rest of this trip it tempts me even more each day to become a dentist so that I can help more third world countries.

Dr. Tao
     Our first day of clinic.
     After endless number of patients, around 12:30pm, I apologized to the patient’s mother in front of me for making them wait.  “It’s ok,” she said.  Out of curiosity, I asked how long they’ve waited.  “Since 6 O’clock this morning.”  “I am so terribly sorry!”  “It’s ok.  Thank you for coming to our town to help us.”
     Xitlali was my student shadow for the day.  Turns out this town have many immigrants from other parts of Central and South America.  Xitlali spoke fluent Spanish and helped translated for me.  After a full day of seeing countless number of patients in the humid heat, this girl is still enthusiastic to learn and still smiling.  So proud of her!
     Just to get an idea of the level of health awareness in town and to show the students the importance of patient education, I asked every single kid what vegetables they eat. “Onions and carrots.” Some said. “No vegetables, only rice & beans.”  Others said. One mother told me that they can’t afford to eat vegetables.  Yet, when asked what they like to drink, many of them said sodas.  Interesting.  Later I learned from another local, when I treated him to a dinner where I had requested the chef to make sautéed spinach for us, that spinach actually grows like weeds there.  But since parents don’t feed their children spinach, not many people know it’s good to eat spinach.  Hmmm, we’re definitely going to expand our resources on patient education in the future.

Kenneth Yang
It was our second day at Belize and our first clinic location. Our first location was at a high school gym that took hours for us to get to. As soon as we arrived, many Belizean patients were waiting for us to setup and help them out. We had four different stations, but that day, Emmaly, my friend, and I were at the second station, pharmacy. It was a tough job at first, looking for all the medicines, translate the doctor’s shorthand, and checking up with our one pharmacist to see if we got the prescriptions right, but as time went on, I got used to it and partially knew my way around the place. To be honest, having two people doing pharmacy with 50 people in line really does not get the job done efficiently. Towards the end the line was a mess and people started arguing about who’s here to get their medications first. Julia came over and asked if there was a better strategy and we thought of making cards that are numbered 1-100 and give them to education. Once education finished teaching the Belizeans how to improve their health, they would give the patient a number and come to pharmacy. Eventually we had to make cards all the way to 200! The fact that everyone was working hard and concentrating on giving the patients the best diagnosis and prescription we could give as a clinic was incredible. When we got back, my friends Adam, Dean, Gabriela, Michael Lee, Michael Wong, Ryan Tao, and many other people started fishing with us. Most of us, especially ryan, caught a lot of fish and we decided to keep some.
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Day 1: Arrival and Team-building

6/23/2018

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Julia Tao
​The ABC group went zip lining after arriving in Belize from a red eye flight, but because to get to Belize City from Placencia takes 3 hours and required leaving at 2 in the morning, I did not go. When everyone arrived, we went to dinner at Cozy Corner in the back of a pickup truck. While we waited for our food, I passed out name tags with the help of my cousin Sierra. In order to give group members some time to work as a team, we played games such as telephone with medical phrases (Ex: Code blue, code blue, doctor please come to the emergency room. Your patient is having v-fib), charades acting out actions such as stroke and cardiac arrest, a team building activity where members answered questions about the other members (Ex: What is their favorite food?), and medical questions such as "What would you do if an autistic student had a meltdown?" Team Michael Wong came in first, my team came in second, Team Cassie Hom came in third, and Team Nate Cheng came in last. Because Team Nate Cheng lost, they all had to take seaweed shots (which were actually really tasty). After the games, we sang happy birthday for Dr. David Liu and had chocolate cake. Then, all the students went to the pier to watch/do some fishing and visit the lobster fest. Afterwards, everyone went to sleep.

​Videos of the team building medical games: 
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1F-8LmPK80mNJDtJcWL54wvOCQf4lsihg
​

Matt Cheng
I left LAX to go to Belize on the plane, DL 659 and arrived at Belize 5:30 AM just in time for the great wave of heat and humidity that hit me like a tiger pouncing on its prey. I'm with the group called ABC which stands for Agape Belize Cure. In this group, I helped others in need who don't have the right medications and/or money for medical care. After a four-hour bus ride, I went over to Cozy Corner where we had an interbonding game in which we played a medical version of charades.

Kenneth Yang
The first day was a blast. A literal blast of heat. I traveled to Belize on flight DL 659 with other volunteers and friends. As soon as all of us exitted the airplane, a wave of heat blasted upon us. We joined with another group who took the American Airlines flight. Afterwards, all of us stuffed our luggages into the storage compartment of the bus and rode to a ziplining course. The beautiful view, the accelerating speed, and the windy breeze gave ziplining in Belize a whole different feeling compared to other locations. After ziplining, we went to our rooms and unpacked. We had to go immediately to a restaurant and group up in our medical teams to play a bonding game. 
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3rd Meeting: Patient Medical Education

6/9/2018

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​Julia Tao
We met at the AALRR office to go over details of the trip, as well as for students to present on topics for patient medical education. Each student became the "expert" on a specific topic and explained it to the rest of the group. These topic presentations will be very helpful in allowing students to be able to correctly educate patients in Belize on health living habits and illness recovery strategies!
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2nd Meeting: Station and Teams

3/31/2018

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​Julia Tao​
Members of the ABC 2018 Medical Mission met at the AALRR office to discuss the ABC group shirt and other materials needed for the trip. In addition, we went over a power point presentation overviewing the different station rotations which will be in place while we are on the mission, and practiced taking vital signs and translating doctor shorthand. Afterwards, we chose our four teams of three members each and participated in a competition where the doctors pretended to be patients and judged each team based on their proficiency and skill in going through the stations.
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1st Meeting: Overview

3/2/2018

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Julia Tao
Those going on the June 2018 mission trip to Belize met at the AALRR office to discuss and see a power-point presentation on the itinerary, medical supplies which must be brought, flight information, and other important necessities. Some out-of-state members and others who couldn't come to the meeting participated through an electronic conference setup on the computer.
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