REED’s Be The Good program recently funded Sanjna Das’ work in the Dominican Republic with UT Health San Antonio’s Project Hispaniola in collaboration with Buen Samaritano. There, she focused her time on providing care to the bateyes—impoverished communities where Haitian migrant workers have limited access to healthcare resources—through researching gaps in maternal health care and treating patients at clinics.
Read more about her experience in this Q&A:
What did a typical day look like while on this trip?
My name is Sanjna, and I am a rising third-year medical student at UT Health San Antonio. I first traveled to the Dominican Republic in the summer of 2024 through Project Hispaniola, our school’s yearly health outreach trip in collaboration with Buen Samaritano. Buen Samaritano is an organization that runs a private hospital in La Romana and helps coordinate health outreach to the bateyes, communities of sugarcane plantation workers along the outskirts of the city. I returned with a team of three medical students: Claire, Kate and Kevin. This year, the four of us participated in maternal health research during the first week and then organized clinics in five bateyes with the help of medical faculty, community members, Buen Samaritano staff and physical therapy students and faculty.
During the first week, our day started with breakfast at Casa Pastoral, our hostel. The four of us then hopped into the van and headed to the clinics with the help of our driver and interpreter. We were very fortunate to have the Buen Samaritano staff with us to not only find the primary care clinics (they don’t have addresses!), but also to provide an introduction. Once we got to the clinics, we spent the morning speaking with mothers and pregnant women to get a sense of their understanding and usage of folate supplementation and their access to prenatal care.
For the second week, we visited the following bateyes: Guerrero, Batey 106, Como Quiera, Campiña Higueral and Marchena. We had breakfast before heading to the bateyes in a large school bus packed with our “pharmacy,” including basic medical equipment like glucometers, and lunch. After anywhere from a 20-minute to an hour-long drive across railroad tracks and unpaved dirt roads, we unpacked all our supplies and rearranged the church pews to see patients. For the duration of the clinic, which lasted the entire day with a break for lunch, we helped with triage— registering the patients and identifying their chief concern—evaluating patients in Spanish or Creole with the help of our interpreters, presenting to our faculty physician, filling prescriptions and even doing home visits for patients who were unable to make it to our clinic. Our community volunteers were a huge help in making the clinic run smoothly, especially with filling our prescriptions! During the lunch break, I ate as fast as I could so that I could spend the rest of the time exploring the batey! Meanwhile, Kate focused on surveying mothers and pregnant women here in the bateyes to compare folate supplementation and access to maternal health between the two settings.
After the clinic wound down in the afternoon, we packed everything onto the bus and headed back to Casa Pastoral for a quick debrief and to get ready for dinner. Most days, we walked to Jumbo—the local supermarket—for chocolate and snacks after dinner. At night, we split up and worked on data entry or refilling medications for the next day’s clinic.
Why were you drawn to this service trip?
My passion for medicine has been shaped by my interest in serving others, especially those who are marginalized. Growing up in a multicultural household, I also developed an interest in providing empathetic care across cultural and linguistic differences. Project Hispaniola stood out to me because I would have the opportunity to help provide medical services to those living in the bateyes. The batey residents, primarily of Haitian descent, have historically been excluded from access to social services in the Dominican Republic. I also learned that the clinic visits would be in Spanish and Creole, and I knew I wanted to continue learning how to best offer culturally sensitive care. Though we had interpreters to assist as needed, both years I have had the chance to conduct patient visits in Spanish, which has allowed me to expand my medical vocabulary and solidified my interest in engaging in global health work in Spanish-speaking countries in the future.
What was your favorite day or event of the trip?
Between the first and second week, the four of us went to Punta Cana for the weekend. Having grown up close to the ocean in Boston, there’s nothing I love more than walks along the beach. We woke up early Saturday morning and walked to the beach to catch the sunrise. It was a little cloudy, but a beautiful sight nonetheless.
What was your favorite part of the service trip?
At one of the bateyes, I got to participate in two home visits, which not only allowed me to better understand what day-to-day life is like for our patients but also to help provide care for patients whose health issues prevented them from coming to the clinics. The second one stuck with me in particular because I was able to apply my understanding of wound care to a patient who had a diabetic ulcer on her foot. Here in San Antonio, I work with a harm reduction-focused community organization to provide wound care for those who inject drugs. I’ve gotten to see and dress a number of wounds, mainly injection site-related abscesses, but the same principles applied here. After gathering the supplies, I cleaned the wound with wet gauze, applied triple antibiotic ointment and wrapped the area in Kerlix. I then explained how she could change the dressing in Spanish. This was a special moment because I was able to apply the skills I had learned from street medicine, another of my interests, to my global health work.
What is one thing you experienced during the service trip that stuck out?
Our patients’ gratitude is something that really stuck with me. The people we serve have very little, but they still work incredibly hard, share laughs and are thankful for the help we provide. Though we are only there for a short time, knowing that we were able to provide as much as six months of blood pressure medication (with the help of this grant!) and that the patients appreciate the care they receive makes it worth it!
Why was participating in this service trip important to you? Why were your services vital to the community you served?
The Dominican Republic affords few rights to those living in the bateyes because they are of Haitian descent, making social mobility difficult. Without social services, it is difficult for these individuals to access health care. We visited five bateyes over the course of one week, setting up a clinic in each. Thanks to support from Be The Good, we saw and treated everything from acute fungal infections to chronic conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes. This is the type of work I see myself doing in the future, so experiences like this will help me build the skills I need to provide compassionate and culturally competent care.
How has participating in this trip changed your perspective and expanded your view of the world?
This trip has opened my eyes to how little people have in terms of healthcare, not just in the Dominican Republic but in many other countries. Additionally, the stigma that those in the bateyes face because of their Haitian heritage means that they are trapped in a cycle of poverty that is very difficult to escape. Despite this, the people I met in the bateyes have been some of the nicest, most compassionate and selfless individuals; they really are a community that looks out for each other. It’s easy to see what these communities don’t have, because that’s what we try to address and improve with global health, but I think it’s also important to reflect on the community’s strengths.
What do you miss most about the Dominican Republic now that you’ve returned home?
I miss the people! Over the past two years, I’ve developed connections with the staff at Casa Pastoral and many of the interpreters working with Buen Samaritano. Having such caring and friendly staff makes the trip an amazing experience, and it’s always sad to say goodbye.
A huge thank you to Be The Good and REED for making our work possible!
