268 Belizians walk away pain-free!

February 28, 2020 San Ignacio, Belize, Central America
ISL Blog Guest Author: James A. Taylor DO 

During a 5 day whirlwind tour of the charming town of San Ignacio, nestled near the border of Guatemala in Western Belize, Dr. Matt Booth DPT, PT,  an American Physical Therapist, lead a cast of specialists to teach, train, and test 12 local physicians in the hot-new treatment for pain with stunning success.

There’s more here than meets the eye.

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2019 Annual Report

Here at ISL, we believe in giving back to those in need. Many organizations report their annual success in profits. We instead celebrate our annual success in measuring how much of a positive impact we’ve made.

Our mission is to support cultural awareness, service-based learning, and sustainable development through experiential and responsible volunteer travel programs that inspire a lifestyle of service.

Here’s a look at how we upheld our mission in 2019.

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Kelsey Kusch: Nicaragua & Costa Rica Reflection

Kelsey Kusch was a member of our Adrian College Global Health team this winter break and served in both Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Here is an entry from her day-to-day blog of her time with ISL.

Day 8 – Nicaragua

View of the city of Granada and volcano Mambacho

Today was the last day in Nicaragua and it sure was a memorable one. We did a canopy tour through a jungle in Granada,Read more »

Neethu Athimattathil: Mexico Reflections

Neethu Athimattahil was part of a Global Health team last December. We reached out to her to ask her about her experience, and she shared this story with us. 

In December of 2014, I had the wonderful opportunity to go on a service trip with ISL to Baja, Mexico. I was a nervous wreck leading up to my trip, not knowing a single soul on the trip or what to expect once I got there.

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ISL Costa Rica: Making memories

Our day began quite hectic and chaotic filled with flight changes and exhaustion. However, as soon as we landed, the day got exponentially better. We met our group leader, Abdi, and the other three members of our ISL team. After quickly grabbing a bite to eat and exchanging currency, we left the airport to our home for the week – La casa de la Espiritualidad in Alajuela (a city just west of San José).

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Purdue University Rings in the New Year in Costa Rica

Hello from Team Purdue (plus Cristina)!! We just brought in the New Year in the best way possible and we thought we should reflect on the amazing trip we’ve had so far.

We arrived at the airport at about 1 in the morning, but that did not put a damper on our enthusiasm and Abdi, our team leader, was still as excited as ever. We immediately went to the hotel to rest for our first day of orientation.

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Hike for Humanity: A Day on the Hike

Hike for Humanity is a very special ISL program which provides health services to communities of indigenous populations. H4H is an exciting and rewarding experience because we bring health services into communities which, due to difficult geographical access, have been denied those services in the past.

Our adventure begins in San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica, where we pack all of our luggage, medicines, and medical supplies onto a bus and drive to the Caribbean province of Limon on the Telire river.

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Eva Baldisserotto: Tanzania Reflection

I can still remember the feeling I had while sitting in JFK airport awaiting my first flight of the long journey ahead of me before I would arrive at Kilimanjaro Airport. I had no idea what to expect and I could almost already feel a change within myself. There was such a mix of emotions: fear, angst, nervousness… but most of all the excitement. I had never been that far from home for that amount of time on my own,

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Megan Gilchrist: Nicaragua Medical Reflection

 

ISL provided me with a once in a lifetime opportunity filled with adventure, compassion, and more learning experiences than I could have hoped for. I valued each and every patient that we encountered, implementing skills ranging from the basics of the patient history, to a physical exam, to diagnosing and prescribing the appropriate treatment. I was able to see a community very different from my own and treasured the associated adventures from a quinceanera,

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