Health and Human Services (Author Abstract‪)‬

Setting up Medical Clinics in Cambodia: A Model for Service Learning Abroad. Melissa K. Allen, University of Michigan--Flint, Department of Nursing; Bonnie M. Durbin, University of Michigan--Flint, Department; of Radiation Therapy The current presentation focuses on developing medical clinics in rural Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The medical clinics were developed over a two--week period during a service learning study abroad program led by Maureen Tippen, faculty member of the Nursing Department at the University of Michigan--Flint. Ten students participated in this experience. During the two--week period, the UM--Flint Cambodia program partnered with the Family Care Cornerstone Project: Side by Side Cambodia in order to set up clinics at various locations in and around Phnom Penh. Medical equipment and supplies came from contributions made in the U.S. The set--up of the clinic was skeletal according to U.S. standards, but given the lack of medical service in the area, the small, portable clinics were able to provide much needed medical support to impoverished orphans, pregnant woman, and those suffering from such endemic diseases as malaria. The power point presentation will deal with the background of the area and will discuss the experience of setting up the clinics and what the two presenters learned from this significant experience.