Cerritos College Global Medical Brigades Club will be hosting a fundraiser on Monday at Bj’s restaurant, in Cerritos, to raise money to travel to Honduras to give medical aid to.

For those interested in participating in the fundraisers the GMB Club will be handing out flyers that you have to present once you arrived at the restaurant.

Fifteen percent of the profits will go towards helping the GMB Club attain their goal.

GMB is a subdivision of the Global Brigades a student led organization that encompasses many different brigades such as Water Brigades, Law Brigades, Dental Brigades, and many others.

Global Brigades work with various universities as well as professional doctors to bring medical assistance to poor stricken countries.

Cerritos College GMB Club has partnered up with UCI’s GMB Club to send a team of students to Honduras so that they can provide medical care to the native people.

The trip is planned to take place in the summer, June 14 through June 21.

President of GMB Club Nicole Zambolla, pre-med major, said, ” We’re raising money so we can go to Honduras to distribute medication, shadow doctors in Honduras at the mobile medical clinics, and help as much as we can.”

In order for students to travel abroad they must each raise $1,300 and get vaccinated for malaria and typhoid fever. The costs for the vaccinations are about $200.

Students must also attain a passport that runs at about $100; other expenses include costs like food, room, and security.

Zambolla said that $688 was paid for their flight cost on May 1.

An additional $1,000 was raised by the club to specifically pay for medication tha
t they will be taking with them to Honduras.

The GMB Club has raised all of their money by fundraising.

Some types of fundraiser the club has done include door to door donations, pancake breakfast/grilled cheese sandwiches sold at the hill, tamales sales, and family/friends donations.

Jorge Sanchez, biology major, expects to get experience by working side by side with doctors and said, “We might get some hands on experience with the patients.”

He also mentions that he is excited to go, “I’ve personally seen the poverty in Honduras it’s very bad.

“There are many isolated villages in Honduras that don’t receive any medical attention because hospitals are scarce.”

The team will be moving from village to village providing medical care as well as dental care by the means of a mobile clinic.

The mobile clinic consists of five different stations:
-Intake (recording patient’s information)

-Triage (collecting main complaints and vitals)
-Consultations (shadowing the doctors while the patients are treated and diagnosed)
-Pharmacy (filling prescriptions)
-Education (teaching patients on preventive healthcare)

Zambolla hopes that by embarking on this medical journey the club members experience hands on training, with the guidance of physicians, while, “having impacts on those in need in rural Honduras.”

More fundraiser will take place before the team heads out to Honduras but the club does not know the specifics of the fundraisers at the moment.