During the past year, students from Belmont University School of Pharmacy have partnered with Nashville’s Shalom Foundation to renovate the organization’s surgical center and pharmacy in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Last fall, fourth-year pharmacy student Chris McKnight worked with the foundation to design plans for the center’s pharmacy after the entire site underwent a renovation. Although Shalom had doctors, surgeons and nurses on the board to contribute, they didn’t have pharmacists to add to the conversation. McKnight became that voice.

After spending over a week working in the center, McKnight said one of his favorite parts was, “the processes of seeing the pharmacy go from my sketches on the backs of napkins, to fruition in Guatemala City.”

Sara Poe, another fourth year student in Belmont’s program, also had the opportunity to work with the foundation’s center. She was focused on the medicine patients were being prescribed and made daily rounds to ensure accuracy and the installation of proper protocol.

Poe also spoke to the experience of working in such a clinic. “I would say that best moments of the trip came from silence, for silence meant no one was in pain and all was well down the hall. That alone has made me a different person.”