Medical Outreach

LU MED Program

MEDICAL OUTREACH TO THE

UNDERSERVED

Service is a vital component of LUCOM’s mission. Our clinical faculty and students are engaged in a number of outreach activities in central Virginia, including vaccination clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic. Opportunities also exist for our students to work with clinical faculty domestically and internationally in providing medical services and healthcare to patients and families in need.

LUCOM students and faculty have worked together in a number of countries during breaks in the classroom curriculum.

A CALLING FOR INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH

There are many rewards and challenges when serving the underserved. The work is never easy, but LUCOM students have dedicated themselves to pursuing excellence in the practice of osteopathic medicine through service toward their fellow man, lifelong learning, and the advancement of medical knowledge.

Through a partnership with Clinica Esperanza — located in Sandy Bay, Roatán, Honduras — LUCOM students serve alongside practicing international physicians, seeing an average of 100 patients daily. The nonprofit clinic is the primary medical provider for hundreds of families throughout the island. Students observe and treat young children in the pediatric wing in addition to providing general medical care and women’s health services.

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.” — Galatians 6:9

MISSIONS IN AFRICA

Through a partnership with Samaritan’s Purse, LUCOM students can apply to a four-week international elective rotation serving in a country already listed as an operating site for the organization. Through this experience, LUCOM student-doctors are exposed to unique clinical settings and immersed into a missionary team focused on providing health and spiritual care for patients. They examine a multitude of patients with diverse needs, while also experiencing the culture and camaraderie of both the locals and missionaries.

LUCOM is the only osteopathic college to have a direct connection to Samaritan’s Purse international operating sites.