Emma Heacock knew pursuing a career as a doctor would mean tackling life-and-death issues, but a summer study-abroad course gave her a broader look at the many approaches to addressing them.
Heacock was one of the participants in “Costa Rica: Striving for Affordable Care,” a study abroad course offered by the Honors Program. During the program, students toured healthcare facilities and met with local care workers while learning about Costa Rica’s health system and culture. Heacock said the experience gave her a broader perspective on the challenges facing healthcare systems.
“It gave me a lot of background on the struggles people face with healthcare,” she said. “It deepened my empathy for people who aren’t able to afford healthcare and gave me ideas of different ways it could be changed in America and how we can learn from what they do there.”
Heacock, a biological sciences and nutrition and biomedical sciences major from Kearney, learned about the program through Erin Sayer, professor of practice in biochemistry, who leads the program with Ashley Light, assistant director of the Exploratory and Pre-Professional Advising Center.
During the two-week trip, Heacock, who is a student in the Honors Program and on the pre-medicine track, and the rest of the group visited a local homeless shelter, an organization that supports people with Down syndrome and a medical garden where people grow ingredients for natural remedies.
Students also visited other sites that provided lessons about Costa Rica’s health system. During a coffee tour, they learned how accidents during harvest season can contribute to an increase in hospital visits. They also visited an amusement park that, although closed the day of their visit, helps fund a local children’s hospital.
“We were able to see how there are challenges with both healthcare systems,” Heacock said. “In Costa Rica, they have long wait times, but everyone is able to afford it and receive care. With collaboration, there could be a lot of things in the U.S. that could be improved if we tried to learn from other countries.”
Seeing a healthcare system different from the U.S. system helped Heacock consider alternative approaches to addressing challenges faced by healthcare systems around the world. The homeless shelter the group visited allowed people to stay for six months and helped them search for a job before they had to leave to make room for another person, which intrigued Heacock.
“I thought it was interesting how much effort was put into helping people get back on their feet,” she said. “The cost of American healthcare is a problem, and it’s so massive that a lot of people think it can’t be solved, but it was nice to see what little things people could do to make a difference. For instance, in rural areas, they offered discounted clinics to help people. The trip gave me a different perspective on how healthcare and approaches to helping people with their health can be improved.”
Participants also had the opportunity to engage with Costa Rican culture. They went to the beach, went ziplining, ate at local restaurants and watched monkeys outside their hotel.
“It being only two weeks, they pack a lot in,” Heacock said. “I was able to take other classes and work in a research lab this summer and still get to have an incredible learning experience in Costa Rica.”
She also thought the topics covered during the lecture portion were impactful, including the public-private model, tropical diseases, medical tourism and mental health.
The group held a debate about the two systems during the lecture portion of the class, and Heacock said it was one of the most valuable experiences for her.
“Dr. Sayer and Ms. Light did an amazing job to create such a great learning experience for us through lectures, tours and hands-on experiences,” Heacock said. “Students who get to experience this are lucky to have this opportunity. It really opened my eyes to how much could be changed within healthcare and that there’s no one right answer, but different approaches can have different benefits and drawbacks. It’s important to think about what impacts the most people.”
