While most Communications High School (CHS) students spent their summer relaxing, junior Grady Appel of Wall left the country to make a difference in underprivileged communities while expanding his knowledge of the healthcare industry.
For ten days at the beginning of June, Appel traveled to Costa Rica to shadow doctors, refurbish daycares and help communities that lacked access to healthcare. With a program called West Coast Connections, he worked with a group called MEDLIFE Movement. West Coast Connections specializes in student travel and pre-college programs. Appel chose a trip through them that worked with MEDLIFE Movement, a nonprofit organization that works with low-income communities in Africa and Latin America to improve access to healthcare, infrastructure and education.
For the first few days of his trip, Appel worked alongside doctors, watching them diagnose patients, helping record basic medical information and setting up the clinic.
“Some of these people that we were helping were adults and never had a doctor’s appointment before,” said Appel.
One of the most impactful moments for Appel was witnessing a doctor tell a patient that he had dangerously high glucose levels, an indicator of diabetes.
“He started crying because the doctor told him that it was very serious and because he didn’t have preventative care or access to healthcare that he could die. It was very hard to watch such a personal moment,” said Appel.
Not only did Appel get experience in the medical field, he also got to assist in renovating a local daycare and taking care of the kids. In doing so, he got to gain firsthand experience of Costa Rican culture.
“I had to speak a lot of Spanish to the locals. It was challenging at first, but over time, I began to get the hang of it. The Spanish classes at CHS definitely prepared me for this trip,” said Appel.
Through his one-on-one experiences with Costa Rican residents, Appel got to hear lots of personal stories. One of the women he worked with at MEDLIFE began her service work with children in Costa Rica after experiencing fertility issues. Her work with MEDLIFE was her way of living out her dream of being a parent while also giving back to the community. Appel got to work alongside her, cooking dinner for kids, teaching them how to brush their teeth and playing games with them.
“The entire trip made me realize how lucky we are to have well-kept infrastructure and access to healthcare,” said Appel.
The experience in Costa Rica fueled Appel’s passion for health services. He plans to continue exploring his medical interests throughout college and aims to be involved in emergency medicine or pediatrics. After the trip, he realized he might also be interested in working with underprivileged communities to provide them with healthcare access as well.
“Experiencing everything in that community put my problems in a different perspective. Some of their problems were worrying about getting fed, while some of ours might be worrying about a test,” said Appel. “It really puts everything in a different light”.
