Dr. Ruby Dunlap’s Uganda Fulbright Blog
I expected to feel relieved, elated even, to be leaving Uganda. The work had been hard, the frustrations many, and all of us, Dad, Bob, and I, missed family and friends back in the U.S. It had been nearly ten months and we were ready to go home. So why were my eyes so wet as the plane lifted off into the night and the lights of Entebbe faded behind us? Uganda and her people have a piece of my heart and it told.
The last paper was graded, the grades averaged, and the final report made. Goodbyes were said, hugs exchanged, promises of emailing regularly made. The most immediate and obvious reflection came easily. All nations have some glory and some shame; I had learned better to embrace both the glory and shame of being a U.S. citizen. I had learned better to put the U.S.’s glory to work and to seek to remedy or mitigate some of her shame. I learned that being a child in Africa and being an adult with much responsibility are very different things. In communication with Joseph, Florence, and Jannat from Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) in western Uganda, I consented to take on some advising of master’s in nursing theses. My stay in Uganda was done, my Fulbright assignment completed, but my work for Uganda is not over.
There is still much to puzzle over in the analysis of my experiences in Uganda. I expect it will take a long time to reflect on and I will likely not ever come to the end of it. But let us take another look at one critical issue. The blog entry, “If you put it that way,” reflected on the different ways one could think of resource-rich and resource-poor healthcare environments. It is difficult to think about the topic of this entry in more than one way; the temptation is to think that more money will solve all the problems of the resource-poor. But it is not so simple; there is perplexity in the problems and the solutions in both rich and challenged environments. One only has to consider the recent healthcare reform efforts in the U.S. to appreciate the complexity in what is possibly the richest healthcare environment on the planet.
Daily Archives: June 11, 2010
$5000 Donated for PT Clinical Scholarship
Recognizing the need for student financial assistance, an anonymous donor recently gave $5000 to Belmont University for a Physical Therapy Clinical Scholarship. This scholarship is designed to assist third year physical therapy students in defraying the costs related to the clinical experiences. Students typically travel to other cities to participate in 8-week long full-time clinical experiences in multiple areas of physical therapy, including outpatient, rehabilitation, acute care and experiences tailored to their goals. These opportunities are available nationwide and internationally. This needed requirement can be costly. Seeing the need to encourage and assist students in their clinical endeavors, this scholarship has assisted students allowing them to focus on their experiences and not on the finances involved since 2000.
A three-person committee, comprised of physical therapists, who were themselves recipients of the clinical scholarship award during their physical therapy education at Belmont University, chose students based on their campus and community involvement, high academic achievements and need. The 2010 recipients are: Emily Burn, Matt Cabbage, Nikki Crosser, Kelly Ehlert, Susan Foster, Holly Gentry, Joy Moulton, Cara Nash, Sylvia Poor and Jenna Reid.