CSD heads to Mexico for 39th clinic trip

By: Kirsten Khire

September 29, 2009

For the 39th time since 2001, MSU associate professor Peter LaPine will bring a group of communicative sciences and disorders students to Angel Notion’s clinic in Mexico. Watch a short video featuring photos of the work at the clinic.

The 22 students in CSD 823 have been studying this fall in a virtual clinic before they had to Nicte Ha, Mexico. They will provide in-person clinical care to young patients of various ages with communicative disorders in the Nicte Ha clinic Oct. 14-18.

The virtual clinic is a unique real-time, interactive web-based telemedicine node specially designed to provide needed communicative disorders assistance. It connects Angel Notion’s medical staff and LaPine and his students to allow children to receive special clinical services via this telemedicine network. 

LaPine said every trip is a different but always a rewarding experience, both for him and for the more than 300 students who have gone with him since 2001. By adding the virtual clinic, he says, the students gain incomparable clinical experiences.

"This class, with its combination of virtual clinic and in-person international clinic experience, gives students a demanding professional challenge. They learn about another culture, while caring for people in that culture. They learn new technology skills, while caring for people using the technology. It's very fulfilling for me to  hear students say that this experience changed their lives," LaPine said.

Follow the blog during the 39th trip.