Drs. Candis McGraw-Senat and Drew Cates volunteered to provide primary care services to patients in the Dominican Republic.
This spring 色中色 (PCOM) School of Pharmacy faculty members Candis McGraw-Senat, PharmD, BCACP, and Drew Cates, PharmD, AAHIVP, collaborated with healthcare professionals from the Strickland Family Medicine Center in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and Solid Rock International, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, to provide primary care services to patients in the communities of San Juan de la Maguana in the Dominican Republic. During this experience, the group stretched limited resources to provide medical services to more than 1,000 individuals in a week.
Dr. McGraw-Senat explained, 鈥溾楤arrios鈥 or neighborhood clinics were set up at local churches, schools and an orphanage. In the morning and early afternoon, patients would line up outside the pop-up clinic sites to receive small paper tickets which served as their medical records.鈥
She added, 鈥淥ne by one, patients were guided to four stations at the clinic, which were each operated by different healthcare providers who were aided by Dominican translators. At station one, patients were weighed. The patients鈥 vitals and chief complaints were taken by a nurse at station two. At station three, patients were seen by a physician or nurse practitioner where medical histories were taken and patients were evaluated. Then, providers devised care plans including medications to be dispensed by the pharmacists at station four.鈥
According to Dr. McGraw-Senat, the pharmacies were comprised of a wooden box filled with donated medications. The new 鈥榤edical records鈥 indicated whether or not medications were to be dispensed for each patient.
鈥淕iven the limited medication supply which we had in stock in the box, the medications or equivalent alternatives were provided to patients in plastic medication bags with labels in Spanish to indicate the medication name, expiration date and directions for use,鈥 she said.
At the pharmacists鈥 discretion and with the providers鈥 permission, changes in medication were made at the time of dispensing, according to the pharmacists. For all chronic medications, a 30 day supply was dispensed. All patients received multivitamins.
Dr. McGraw-Senat said she was challenged by the 鈥淒ominican way鈥 of doing things. 鈥淗aving a strong type A personality made it difficult at times. I wanted to execute patient care in a certain manner, which was not ideal for many reasons (e.g., limited resources, cultural differences),鈥 she said. 鈥淗owever, overall this was a rewarding experience to learn about Dominican culture and an even greater learning experience to find that the 鈥楢merican way鈥 is not the only or best way of doing things.鈥
Dr. Cates said, 鈥淪imilar to Dr. McGraw-Senat, I found the most challenging part of this experience to be overcoming my own strong type A personality, especially with the setup/organization of the medications in the pharmacy box. Overall, it was an excellent opportunity to see there are many ways of doing things to achieve a great patient experience.鈥
The most enjoyable part of the trip was getting to know the Dominican people, Dr. McGraw-Senat and Dr. Cates agreed. 鈥淭hey were so grateful to receive care, even if it was as simple as being provided with multivitamins,鈥 Dr. McGraw-Senat said.
鈥淭he individuals of the Dominican were overwhelmingly appreciative of anything we did for them while welcoming us into their communities to share their culture,鈥 Dr. Cates said. 鈥淭hey were also excited to learn more about the culture of the United States, especially music. Dr. McGraw-Senat and I were asked to play a lot of music from artists like Adele and Lady Gaga.鈥
This medical mission trip attracted Dr. McGraw-Senat for the second year in a row and Dr. Cates for the first time. In 2015, Dr. McGraw-Senat had also participated in a mission trip to Guatemala. As a result of their incredible experiences, both faculty members are signed up to return to the Dominican Republic in April 2019.
Dr. McGraw-Senat is laying the groundwork for students to participate in a similar experience. 鈥淢y future plans are to create an elective rotation for our pharmacy students so they may gain cultural awareness and understanding of health and disease outside the United States,鈥 she said.
PCOM Georgia has been serving students and the community for 20 years as a branch campus of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), a private, not-for-profit, accredited institution of higher education established in 1899. Located in Suwanee (Gwinnett County), PCOM Georgia offers doctoral degrees in osteopathic medicine, pharmacy and physical therapy. Graduate degrees are offered in biomedical sciences, medical laboratory science and physician assistant studies. The campus joins PCOM South Georgia in Moultrie in helping to meet the healthcare needs of the state. Emphasizing "a whole person" approach to care, PCOM Georgia focuses on educational excellence, interprofessional education and service to the community. For more information, visit pcom.edu or call 678-225-7500. The campus is also home to the Georgia Osteopathic Care Center, an osteopathic manipulative medicine clinic, which is open to the public by appointment. For more information, visit .
For general media inquiries, please contact the Office of Marketing and Communications at 215-871-6300 or communications@pcom.edu. Visit our media relations page to view contact information for public relations personnel.
© 2025 色中色
