Student Fellow Grows through Participation in Community Health Programs
This story first appeared in the Fall 2015 edition of the Marquette University Center for Peacemaking’s Prints of Peace donor appreciation newsletter.
Through her experiences as a Marquette undergrad and studying abroad in El Salvador, Jenny Garbarz developed an interest in solidarity and accompaniment.
After coming back from El Salvador, she was searching for a community of similar-minded people who were also passionate about peacemaking. Jenny found the community she was looking for and learned of the opportunity of a lifetime through a friend who told her about the Center for Peacemaking. She then applied for and received a student fellowship to connect her passion for healthcare with peacemaking.
Jenny’s fellowship consisted of volunteer placements in Haiti and Milwaukee that minimized unnecessary suffering of people with limited access to resources.
In Haiti, she worked alongside a team of clinicians from Rush University Medical Center. For most of the trip the group worked at a clinic near the capital, providing basic health services to nearly 200 patients a day.
For Jenny, the most griping part of the trip was conducting home visits. These visits allowed her to connect more with the patients.
“It is so important to listen to everyone’s story and where they’re coming from,” she reflects, “Throughout the trip we addressed immediate needs, but once we got to the rural areas, I noticed that preventative measures were of greater importance. For example, improving access to fresh water and the viability of crops would make a huge impact on the community’s health.”
The importance of addressing root causes and promoting preventative measures remained a priority for Jenny. Since returning from Haiti she has taught nutrition classes to youth two times a week at CORE/El Centro, an organization that offers individuals of all income levels access to natural healing therapies.
Inspired by her love for accompanying people on their journey of life, Jenny has decided to pursue her interest in physical therapy. She said, “one reason I’m interested in physical therapy is because I feel like there is such a long amount of time that I get to spend with each person on their journey towards rehabilitation.”
Looking to the future, Jenny dreams of leading community health programs for those who can not afford care. Because of donors like you, she is one step closer to realizing her goal.
