--- title: Welcome to the New Global Medical Brigades! - Global Brigades Blog description: "2 weeks in: Alright, this is going to be a quick update of the new direction we’re going to try to be taking  Global Medical Brigades.  As anyone that has ever been on a brigade knows, GMB is an incredible international student run volunteer organization.  However, there has been some criticism of our longterm sustainability, […]" image: https://blog.globalbrigades.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Blog-Preview-4-Nov-01-2021-09-24-19-51-PM.png --- [![Global_Brigades_logo_blue_gray_primary-3](https://blog.globalbrigades.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Global_Brigades_logo_blue_gray_primary-3.png?width=189&height=74&name=Global_Brigades_logo_blue_gray_primary-3.png "Global_Brigades_logo_blue_gray_primary-3")](https://www.globalbrigades.org/) - [CONTACT US](https://www.globalbrigades.org/get-involved/) - [CONTACT US](https://www.globalbrigades.org/get-involved/) ![Welcome to the New Global Medical Brigades!](https://blog.globalbrigades.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Blog-Preview-4-Nov-01-2021-09-24-19-51-PM.png) Jul 14, 2009, 5:15:10 AM | # Welcome to the New Global Medical Brigades! 2 weeks in: Alright, this is going to be a quick update of the new direction we’re going to try to be taking  Global Medical Brigades.  As anyone that has ever been on a brigade knows, GMB is an incredible international student run volunteer organization.  However, there has been some criticism of our longterm sustainability, \[…\] Share - [mailto:?&subject=Welcome%20to%20the%20New%20Global%20Medical%20Brigades!&body=Welcome%20to%20the%20New%20Global%20Medical%20Brigades!%0A(https%3A%2F%2Fblog.globalbrigades.org%2Fwelcome-to-the-new-global-medical-brigades)](mailto:?&subject=Welcome%20to%20the%20New%20Global%20Medical%20Brigades!&body=Welcome%20to%20the%20New%20Global%20Medical%20Brigades!%0A(https%3A%2F%2Fblog.globalbrigades.org%2Fwelcome-to-the-new-global-medical-brigades)) - - - 2 weeks in: Alright, this is going to be a quick update of the new direction we’re going to try to be taking  Global Medical Brigades.  As anyone that has ever been on a brigade knows, GMB is an incredible international student run volunteer organization.  However, there has been some criticism of our longterm sustainability, that while it is important to empower students, without the ability to make a long-lasting sustainable change within these communities, we’re not accomplishing as much as we could be.  And we agree.  I was able to go on my first brigades as a doctor with Depaul University, and I was able to see firsthand many of the problems that our current system creates.  We are therefore going to be instituting some changes as well as implementing some new programs to help our program grow into what it needs to be. #1: Change in brigade format – this is going to be subtle but hopefully very helpful.  We are still going to run brigades in the same general pattern, but we are going to change our patient intake sheets in order to facilitate questioning.  The biggest holdup in our brigade process is difficulty with translation.  We will therefore be providing translators with an algorithm of questioning in order to speed the process of dealing with our most common diagnoses.  This will hopefully allow doctors to speed our patients through that don’t need a lot of time, and allow them to focus on patients with more complicated complaints. #2: We will begin to issue health cards to all patients seen by a brigade.  This will begin our process of longterm management, and allow other institutions such as local hospitals to see what we have been doing.  It will also allow us to follow chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes, and do growth screening questions on children. #3: Finally we have begun our data collection.  Granted that involves in incredible amount of mind-numbing data entry, but soon we will have some basic information about what we do in each of the communities we visit. #4: Lastly, and most important, we are going to have a trial run of our new Community Health Worker program by the end of the summer (political unrest not withstanding).  Daisy, Hiral, and Jon are heading up this program and have a fantastic training schedule completed on how to train community members as health care workers.  This will allow followup, data collection, and some triage and identification of patients to happen between brigades.  This is the single most important step to allowing medical brigades to transition from relief work to long term sustainable health care infrastructure. “You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” – John Lennon, *Imagine* ### Written By: Grey ## You May Also Like ### [![Welcome to the New Global Medical Brigades!](https://blog.globalbrigades.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/ghana-1-Nov-01-2021-09-29-52-51-PM.png) *Jan 21, 2013, 1:38:22 PM |* “How has Global Brigades Affected Your Academic Path?”](https://blog.globalbrigades.org/how-has-global-brigades-affected-your-academic-path-2) ### [*May 12, 2010, 5:04:50 AM |* Program Update: Microfinance Brigades](https://blog.globalbrigades.org/program-update-microfinance-brigades) ### [![Welcome to the New Global Medical Brigades!](https://blog.globalbrigades.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Alana-Hartley-2-3.jpg) *May 28, 2012, 3:40:38 PM | From the Field* Meet Alana, a Medical and Dental Brigader from Oakland University](https://blog.globalbrigades.org/meet-alana-a-medical-and-dental-brigader-from-oakland-university) [Learn More](https://www.example.com) [![Global-Brigades-2010-Logo_Med-Res-2](https://blog.globalbrigades.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Global-Brigades-2010-Logo_Med-Res-2.jpg?width=250&height=108&name=Global-Brigades-2010-Logo_Med-Res-2.jpg "Global-Brigades-2010-Logo_Med-Res-2")](https://www.globalbrigades.org/) 1099 E Champlain Dr., Ste A176 , Fresno, California [tel:](tel:) © Global Brigades. 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