Grace Brown’s (EXSC ’27) medical trip to Cambodia not only transformed her view of medicine and healthcare, it also taught her how to better serve her community. When Brown started searching for clinical work experience she had no idea she would find herself in a different country learning from experts in Mainland Southeast Asia. This lifechanging trip forced her out of her comfort zone and left a lasting impact that ignited her dedication to pursuing a career in the medical field.
Brown and several other BYU students served through VAW Global Health Alliances, an organization that aids students in traveling to developing countries to provide free primary, veterinary, and dental care. Students pay for their own cost of travel and fundraise for the various treatments they wish to provide to patients. They also coordinate with local medical health professionals who sponsor, monitor, and mentor participants.
Working in a clinic in Cambodia helps students like Brown develop connections with Cambodian doctors and gain hands-on experience. Brown went to Cambodia with a knowledge of how to take basic vital signs and gather patient medical history and she left with clinical patient care exposure at the side of Cambodian medical professionals.
The students conducted basic diagnostic checks for conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, and compiled patient history information. Doctors accompanied them at every clinic. Partnering with the local doctors allowed the students to go into local schools, marketplaces, community centers, and pagodas (or Buddhist temples) to reach the populations that have sparse medical access.
The Cambodian government identified the communities that would benefit the most from the pop-up clinics. The students provided aid and screenings for ailments such as colds, strep, and malnutrition, but were not equipped to perform any surgeries or major medical interventions. Still, these populations benefited substantially from the student clinic because their own communities have limited medical access.
Many times the students and doctors were unable to help their patients when their conditions were grievous and needed to be treated at a hospital. Since these individuals were impoverished, it was clear that they wouldn’t be able to afford the high medical operation costs associated with their needed treatments. This broke Brown’s heart, but in developing communities doctors are limited in what they can do to help.
Brown remembers a woman with liver disease that they had to turn away because the family couldn’t afford the financial care for her needs. With only one large, central hospital in the capital, Phnom Penh, and smaller hospitals in specific regions, it can be difficult for the rural communities to receive adequate medical attention. Brown saw first-hand how donations from outside of Cambodia could go a long way in providing vital treatments for those in need.
Fostering Connections in Cambodia
Brown had the unique opportunity to learn rudimentary Khmer in order to communicate with the people she treated. Beyond the basics, Brown and other BYU volunteers learned medically relevant phrases like “I’m going to take your blood glucose,” “this is a needle,” and “you’ll feel a tiny prick.”
Brown’s efforts to communicate allowed her to connect with her Cambodian patients. One woman came into the clinic with a shy demeanor, not meeting the gaze of the nurses, but upon hearing Brown speak to her in her native language, she immediately lit up. She was impressed that a foreigner would put in extra effort to learn some of the language. As she progressed through the different student-manned stations in the clinic she became more and more impressed with the student volunteers. By the end of her appointment she was deeply touched and asked to have a picture taken with the whole team. “It taught me the importance of connection, even at a small level,” Brown reflects.
Brown also used her rudimentary Khmer to bond with local nurses. One nurse became a close friend and they exchanged gifts before she left Cambodia. The nurse had never met students who were so willing to learn about the culture and embrace their differences. “[She told me] thank you for being receptive and wanting to talk to me and wanting to get to know me,” says Brown. “I think that my biggest advice to people about getting to know new people is finding the overlap and being willing to learn and not just to teach.”
Returning Home Changed
Brown’s experience in Cambodia changed her view of her own local communities, and she is grateful for BYU’s connection with VAW. Without this sponsorship, she never would have used her knowledge to serve. Her time in Cambodia increased her resolve to give back and aid those in need both in her own community and abroad. Brown also encourages others to get as involved as possible in community-relief efforts.
Serving as the Savior did, one by one, has become an important focus in Brown’s life. “I'm always trying to be involved in volunteer work and finding different ways to help people because at the end of the day, the significance of my life is the amount of people that I touch, even if it's just in a small way,” Brown shares. “Not everyone can go to Cambodia. Some people can't even leave the state. I'm very engaged in getting involved in my community.”
To increase her reach in her local community, Brown recently joined BYU EMS. “The idea behind that is I'm able to contribute with my skills and my talents to my university community.” Brown has been able to provide medical care quickly during campus emergencies and provide support during large BYU-run events.
Before going to Cambodia, she never realized how difficult it could be to interact with patients who have a language barrier with their primary care doctor. Recognizing that there is a current deficit of Spanish-speaking doctors in America, Brown has dedicated herself more recently to learning Spanish. The trip “changed the way that I want to be a doctor,” enthused Brown. “It changed the way that I want to interact with my future patients.”
Her time in Cambodia changed how she viewed her God-given gifts. “To see how my classes and how what I've devoted my life to at this moment of time—education—has impacted other people was extremely inspiring,” mused Brown. “You don't have to be a doctor or a nurse or a firefighter to bless people. You can do it in your own unique way.”