Global Health Club closes year with a bang

The Global Health Club recently organized a medical career panel featuring five doctors who spoke about their experiences getting into medical school and working in the field. Almost 100 students and parents attended the panel on April 15 in the Thermond Drama Center.

Dr. Evaleen Jones, one of the doctors who attended the panel, shared knowledge she had gained over decades of being in the medical field.

“It’s about commitment and learning to find balance,” Jones said. “Just find what you love and know who you are.”

Many of the students who attended were interested in pursuing the medical field and received advice not only on how to work toward their goal but also what they would be getting into.

“It was interesting to hear about what [the doctors have] done and expand my prior knowledge on what studying medicine entails,” sophomore Jeanna Sheen said.

The idea to help aspiring students to become doctors or nurses didn’t crop up overnight. Global Health Club is effectively the brainchild of Dr. Evaleen Jones. Jones initially created the nonprofit Child Family Health International (CFHI) for college students and those in the medical profession. CFHI has since expanded to high schools, where it is called Global Health Club.

The club has contributed on a global scale by adopting a community in Bolivia to aid teenage mothers. The community helps take care of their children and helps provide them with a basic education. Through short notes, team pictures and care packages to the community, GHC members have been able to show their support for the Bolivian people there. The club has sent a package with a photo collage, team picture and a short biography of each member of the club.

“We were able to establish connections and they got to know that someone halfway cares about them and understands the rough situation they’re going through,” sophomore Simrun Buttar said, one of the vice presidents of the club.

The club has also held multiple fundraisers to aid the club’s adopted community in Bolivia, raising almost $600. Bloggers for the club have written about child survival and mortality rates in third world countries for CFHI’s website.

“Overall things have run pretty smoothly and it has been a great first year,” Tso said.