On Nov. 20, Creighton’s MEDLIFE Club had a fundraiser at Chipotle to raise money for students to attend mission trips in the Spring of 2018.

   Fifty percent of the proceeds from the fundraiser go towards the student trips.

   MEDLIFE stands for Medicine, Education and Development for Low Income Families Everywhere. The mission statement of MEDLIFE is “to build a worldwide movement empowering the poor in their fight for equal access to health care, education and a safe home.”

   This year, Creighton MEDLIFE will be traveling to Riobamba, Ecuador, to assist local medical professionals in treating individuals who have little to no access to health care because of location isolation, lack of financial ability to pay for care and limited transportation to clinics.

    “The more volunteers they are able to get to come on the trips, the more money they can utilize to go towards these communities, and the more students are able to learn more about health care abroad and become enlightened on the issues of poverty that prevail,” said Elizabeth Newton, President of MEDLIFE. “We also get to teach children who have never brushed their teeth before how to do this and why dental care is important. Children get to keep some toothpaste and toothpaste after teaching them about it as well.”

   MEDLIFE members also apply what they learn abroad to help our local community.

   “One of our big goals is that we take what we learn abroad and apply it to our local community because we understand that health inequities is not just a global problem, said Community Service Chair, Nico Villarraga. “Currently, we are in the process of partnering with the Nebraska AIDS Project, which is a nonprofit in Omaha that works on fighting HIV/AIDs and its stigma through advocacy, education, and support services.”

    Many of the students who have gone on trips in the past had really great experiences.

   “Last Spring, I had the opportunity to travel to Managua, Nicaragua with several Creighton students through the MEDLIFE organization,” said Creighton student Emily Clysdale. “The purpose of this trip was to help set up and run mobile medical clinics for low-income members in the Managua community. In total, we served 780 patients within the Managua Community, said Creighton student Emily Clysdale I would highly recommend going on a trip with the MEDLIFE organization, it was truly an incredible experience.”