SMU Delegation Visits Cuba to Learn Healthcare System, Education Models

A 19-person team from Samuel Merritt University (SMU) spent a week in Havana, Cuba in late 2015 to learn the workings of the small nation’s healthcare system and healthcare education models.

SMU partnered with the Oakland-based MEDICC (Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba) to facilitate the trip.

“I recommend a Cuba trip to anyone who wants to learn more about health in a small country that has placed the education and health of its people at the top of the priority pile,” said Maria Burkhalter Ronquillo, an assistant professor at SMU’s San Francisco Peninsula campus in San Mateo. “It is my hope that more experiences like this will open the eyes of folks who can help us make the changes that will make this work to achieve health care for all possible.”

The mixed group of faculty, staff, students and alumni traveled with the goal of using the knowledge gained to enhance curriculum, teaching, and learning at SMU.

The group spent the week learning the basic components of the Cuban healthcare system, from the neighborhood clinics to hospitals, maternity homes, and mental health centers. The contingent visited a senior’s citizens club, an HIV-AIDS prevention center, and a Cuban Secondary School to visit classrooms and view student projects related to health promotion and prevention.

The group also toured Maternal Child hospital, where they visited the patient wards, the labor and delivery area, and the neonatal intensive care unit.

A tour favorite was the visit to ELAM, the Latin American Medical School. ELAM educates future physicians from over 100 countries who aim to care primarily for the underserved in their countries including the USA.