India in India By India Luetkemeyer Vellore India

India in India By India Luetkemeyer

Vellore, India

Background: Robinson Scholarship • Dr. David W. Robinson • Head of Plastic Surgery • Professor of Surgery & Oncology • Director of Burnett Burns Center • Dr. Mani • Completed residency at KU • Medical Director of Burnett Burns Center • Established burn care protocol • US Malasia, Australia, Kyrgyzstan, and India Dr. Robinson

Background: Robinson Scholarship • 67 scholars since 2004 • School of Medicine • School of Nursing • School of Health Professions • Physical Therapy • Occupational Therapy • DIETETICS!! Modale Fellows who have spent or will spend a semester in the US doing research

Rotations • 3 weeks in Hospital-Christian Medical College • Nephrology, endocrinology, neurosurgery, Radiology, Hematology, Medical Oncology, Pediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Urology, SICU, CVICU • Outpatient Clinic • Food Service • Formula Room • One day at CHAD • One week at RUHSA

Christian Medical College, where I spent three of my four weeks in India

My day at CHAD, a community health program of CMC. A van travels around the villages of Vellore and delivers free prenatal and general health screenings.

RUHSA (Rural Unit for Health and Social Affairs) is a community hospital in rural Vellore. The nutritionist here delivers nutritional counseling regarding diabetes, renal disease, and weight loss, provides breast-feeding and nutritional education to prenatal and postnatal women, and teaches oral hygiene classes to the patients.

Clinical Experience: Formula Room • CMC makes their own enteral formulas • Multiple types for multiple disease states • Burns • Rehabilitation • Made with household items • Dietitians counseled on how to make formulas at home • If we did this in the US, more people may be able to better afford home enteral feeds

Cultural Experience: Hindustan Spices Tour • Sell herbs and spices that are grown in their garden • Most used as treatments in Ayurvic Medicine, a complementary and alternative medicine practice in India • One of the oldest systems of medicine in the world • Good health involves a balance of universal interconnectedness, the body’s constitution, and life forces, not just the absence of disease • Different spices and herbs thought to help cure diabetes, immune disorders, weight problems, etc. • Showed me insight into their culture and their health beliefs

A cashew fruit Cocoa Beans Our Guide

Healthcare Differences • Although many of the nutritional recommendations were similar to the US, there were some distinct differences in standards of care • Everything done by paper, nothing computerized • Amount of patients seen per day much greater • 80 -100 per day vs. 15 -20 in US • Limited personalized counseling; mostly group counseling • Certain nutritional recommendations and standards differed • Sodium restriction: 6 grams vs. 2 grams in US • Healthy BMI: 18. 5 -22 vs. 18. 5 -24. 9 in US

Travel • Mahabalipuram • Taj Mahal • Kerala

Mahabalipuram is a temple about 3 hours away from Vellore. We went to many of the temples, did some shopping, and met some of the people. We also rode elephants in Kerala, a state in India that we visited.

The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum in New Delhi, India. It is where the emperor Shah Jahan and his wife are buried. It took about 20 years to build.