The practice of doctors making house calls is a thing of the past, but these medical students think nothing of embarking on a cross-country bicycle tour.
About two dozen future doctors will leave San Diego this week to raise money and awareness for the Heal Africa and World Bicycle Relief organizations.
This is the fifth year that groups of med students have taken a Ride for World Health bicycle tour across the US. Each year they've raised between $60,000 and $80,000 for different non-governmental agencies that provide medical care to developing nations.
The entourage plans to leave San Diego on Thursday. Members will ride 75 to 100 miles a day in order to reach Washington DC in about 55 days.
The cyclists are riding this year in memory of a previous rider, Brooke Baxter, who went on to volunteer for several worldwide health organizations. This past July, while on a mission to Kenya for the Lwala Community Alliance Safe Motherhood program, she died in a bus accident.
Talks
Along the way the cyclists will meet with students in middle school up through medical school to talk about the state of global health.
One of the medical students is Tim Mitchell of Richland, Washington. He told the local Tri-City Herald that he's undertaking the ride because it's so different than anything he's done before.
“I also like the idea of raising money for grassroots organizations that have made significant impacts in the international communities they work in.”
Beneficiaries
One of the charities is World Bicycle Relief, which was founded after the tsunami swept across the Indian Ocean in 2005. The bicycles they supply to third-world communities help to, among other things, carry health-care workers to far-flung rural communities.
The other group, HEAL Africa, is based in the Congo and strives to help people in that country on the medical, social and economic fronts.
If you're in one of the communities that the team will be visiting this spring, check the website to contact them about speaking at a school or function.
You also can donate to their cause at the Ride for World Health website.
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