There were many tempting options during spring break for MUSC's second-year occupational therapy students.

Emily Caveny, OT Class 2013, enjoys a moment with an Ugandan boy as he awaits a check-up at the local clinic in Masindi, Uganda.

Thanks to the persuasive talents of Patty Coker-Bolt, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Health Professions, 16 of the 42 in the class chose to spend their spring break working in Uganda as volunteers for a trip organized through the Palmetto Medical Initiative. Coker-Bolt plays a vital role in recruiting for this organization. The students traveled 7,400 miles to Masindi, Uganda from May 4-14. Lauren Wengerd, pictured far right with an excerpt from her trip journal, said she wishes she were back there right now.

"You would go to clinic with your shoes and a hat and you would leave without them," she said. "Going on this trip was the best decision I have ever made. Learning both life and career lessons while
helping people who genuinely need it? Sign me up."

Sixteen of MUSC's occupational therapy students volunteered to work on a medical trip to Masindi, Uganda on their spring break, May 4-14.

The Office of Student Life in the College of Health Professions is accepting shoes for the next group of students going to Uganda in August. New and used shoes of all sizes for men, women and children are needed. Folding wheelchairs and walkers also are in dire need. For more information, contact Kaelyn Rogers at rogerk@musc.edu.

Lauren Wengerd, an occupational therapy student, helps an Ugandan patient fit his "wheelchair" for molds to improve his posture and comfort. Below is an excerpt from reflections in her journal.

"As I sit both mentally and physically exhausted on a two-hour van ride back from clinic, I am trying to wrap my mind around everything I experienced today. I met a man whose amazing smile and overwhelming gratefulness will forever be engrained in my mind. He had a severe case of polio, something that is rarely seen in the States anymore, and as a result had the most debilitating case of scoliosis I may ever see. He came to us in a wheelchair made of a hard plastic lawn chair and bike tires hoping for a cure, or at the very least, relief from the pain. We luckily had some foam material that we were able to modify and attach to his chair to provide him better posture, and most importantly, comfort. As he sat back on a soft surface for maybe the first time in his life his huge smile and laughter said it all. Something as simple as making a chair that he uses everyday more comfortable may have changed his quality of life forever, and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you are in America or Uganda. That is what I came to OT school for. That is what occupational therapy is all about." -— Lauren Wengerd