Child Family Health Intl

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I regret not reviewing CFHI's Cape Town project beforehand as CFHI's reputation got the best of me. I can confirm what Jeremiah said on 11/25/2015 about his placement in Cape Town. It is apt to say that the program is total rubbish.

1) There is NO clinical rotation. CFHI's webpage advertises the opportunity to observe in general surgery, general medicine, pediatrics, HIV clinic, and casualty. The reality is that you are placed in Internal Medicine for the duration of the program. When I brought this fact up, one of the coordinators, Avril, got mad and replied word for word "Why can't you be open to the experience?"

2) The staff offers ZERO accommodation. It was extremely frustrating to work with Avril and Marion (coordinators of the program). It seems that their answers to any problems in the program are "Be open minded", "Don't let the small things get to you", and "You are already blessed to have this opportunity". The driver associated with the program is one of the grumpiest, least accommodating person that I've encountered. You are picked up at 6:30, because he doesn't want to sit in traffic. You arrive at 7, and you wait until 8 to begin observing.

3) The planning of the homestay is counter logic. All the volunteers are placed in a neighborhood called Vanguard Estate. It is in the region called Athlone. Two blocks down is a massive township called Langa. Think townships as one grade above slums. You can imagine that the neighborhood is not safe at all. Additionally, you are in a remote location where there is nothing fun to do. To head to the city where most attractions are, you have to either take Uber or drive. You can imagine the accumulated cost for that.

I speak from the bottom of my heart when I say that you should avoid this program. If you want to be placed in South Africa, choose Durban. It seems that project has more positive reviews, and I doubt it can be worse than Cape Town's project. Save yourself money and time.

I have to be honest, I had a 'less than stellar experience' with CFHI. I am only writing this review to help others like me who are diligently researching programs like this and who want to get a firsthand review from someone who recently attended.

1) The program houses you in an area of Cape Town - 20-30 minutes from city center - in a neighborhood called Athlone. Ask anyone in Cape Town and they will tell you that, even for Cape Town, this is not a safe neighborhood. Feel free to look up crime statistics maps and you will see for yourself. 2) The driver that picks you up and drops you off is this older man who is unprofessional and grumpy. He gripes at you if you are even a minute late. Trust me, ask anyone who went about this.
3) Your home stay is a toss up. Unfortunately for me, my home stay left me to fend for myself for breakfast and lunch, while my other colleagues had their breakfast and lunch prepared each day for them.
4) I asked to be placed in a particular area of interest: HIV. This was never addressed, nor was I ever placed in an HIV clinic. I was put in an internal medicine inpatient ward of a hospital with about 10-15 other students, so there was next-to-no one-on-one teaching. You mainly walk around and observe.
5) When I addressed my concerns with the program administration in both Cape Town and their office in San Francisco, I was made to feel that my concerns were not valid. I found the staff to be unprofessional, apathetic, and unhelpful. The two ladies representing the program in Cape Town are nice and friendly, but they did little to address my concerns and feedback.

So, to say I had a bad experience, is only the half of it. When you spend close to $3,000 on a program like CFHI, you expect a little more out of the experience. I was severely let down by the experience and the program's response to my experience.

I participated in the Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine program in La Pax, Bolivia this past June 2015, and it was an extremely beautiful and illuminating experience. My time spent working with doctors and nurses in varying specialties was invaluable in giving me a chance to learn more about the health care field, as well as about intercultural medicine. I would highly recommend this experience to anyone who wants more exposure to the medical field, or to those who aren't sure if this career is right for them. As for me, as a result of this program I have decided to continue along my path into medicine.

CFHI does a great job finding inspiring and intelligent doctors to shadow during our time at the program. Before I left, they were extremely helpful, accommodating, and answered all questions and concernsi I had about my trip. They also provide many resources to fundraise for the program. During the program itself, we are connected with a coordinator who lives in the country, in my case the kind and wonderful Gonzalo Claire. He was available for us whenever we needed him, and worked with us to give us each experience we desired. With his help I was able to shadow a doctor in a women and children's clinic that no other student had worked in before. Overall, I would recommend this program, and CFHI specifically, for anyone who desires to expose themselves to global medicine.

I had an absolutely amazing experience with CFHI’s HIV/AIDS program in Durban, South Africa. As an incoming 3rd year medical student at the Ohio State University, this was one of my first hand’s on clinical experiences. Our coordinator, Maureen, housed all 6 of us with local Zulu families. They provided us with a place to stay and home cooked traditional Zulu meals. This greatly enhanced our understanding of the Zulu culture and language. Over the following 3.5 weeks I rotated through various departments at King Edward Hospital in Durban, a public secondary hospital. During the first week I was able to participate in Pediatric morning rounds, Intern lectures, and assist in my first Caesarean section. I spent he following week with a team of general surgeons. I was able to observe various endoscopic procedures, observe general clinic days and stay on overnight calls to observe and assist in surgeries. I was able to assist in a leg amputation and observe an appendectomy, gastrectomy, lymph node biopsy, inguinal hernia repair, exploration laparotomy, as well as other smaller procedures. I learned procedural skills for the first time as well as continued to expand my medical knowledge. During the 3rd week I rotated through various departments including Psychiatry, Urology, and Casualty. Although many of the conditions were similar to those seen in the US (burns, asthma, GSW, hydrocele, etc) many cases were complicated by concurrent HIV/AIDS and/or Tuberculosis. Virtually every patient is screened for both of these conditions- something that is rarely done in the US. It was incredible to see how these diseases can manifest in hundreds of different ways-ways that I may never observe in the US. In my final week I worked at the Blue Roof Clinic, a clinic providing free HIV/AIDs care to the community. I was able to shadow a HIV specialist and observed how she incorporated education and wellness into each of her patients care.