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Email: Jkaur29@binghamton.edu
Read up on the latest happenings with MSF & Friends of MSF at Binghamton!
✧*⁺˚*☆-PRE-HEALTH TIMELINE- ✧*⁺˚*☆
By Eda Akçal, Junior Advisor
On October 11th, 2023, we as Friends of MSF had our Pre-Health timeline event where we talked about the timelines for Pre-Medical, Pre-PA and Pre-Dental. Our Vice President, Junior Advisor, and Website Manager gave a detailed breakdown of each field, their required exams and application systems along with useful study resources to have a successful application cycle. We had many of our club members join the event and further ask additional questions they had in regards to the application processes. We posted the slides from our event to our club’s GroupMe. Feel free to sign up for our club through our GroupMe link attached below and follow our Instagram Page msfbing to keep in touch with any upcoming events! Thank you to everyone!
GroupMe Link: https://groupme.com/join_group/96021114/InkTWVPP
The Devastating Earthquakes that hit Turkey
By Eda Akçal, Junior Advisor
On 6 February 2023, a catastrophic and destructive 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern and central Turkey. One of the strongest earthquakes to hit the region in a century shook residents from their beds at around 4 a.m. on Monday, sending tremors as far away as Lebanon. In the hours that followed the first occurrence, a number of aftershocks shook the area. So far, more than 125 aftershocks have been identified. Rescuers are currently working against the clock and the weather to extricate survivors from behind rubble on both sides of the border. The disaster department of Turkey reports that over 5,700 buildings have collapsed. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey's east in 1939 and left more than 30,000 people dead is comparable to the magnitude of the earthquake that struck Turkey on Monday. Currently, the death poll has risen to 40,000. Donations from all across the globe have been received via non-governmental organizations, companies, and individuals. These donations were used to provide proper clothing, food, medical aid, infant supplies, and shelter.
How can we help as Friends of MSF at Binghamton?
Doctors without borders have enacted an emergency plan to support hospitals and provide medical and material aid to the people by mobilizing a large part of the 500-person staff active in the country. Additionally, we can continue raising awareness by sharing what’s happening on social media platforms by also providing links to GoFundMe’s established by global organizations such as UNICEF and Turkish National disaster organizations such as AFAD and AHBAP. Down below we have provided links that can be used to help the ones in need. Any contribution, no matter how small, will make a difference.
UNICEF Link:
MSF Link:
Red Cross:
FoMSF Mentor Speaker Event
By Jasmine Kaur, Website Manager
Last meeting, Friends of MSF at Binghamton met with their mentors Dr. Sharmilla Shetty and Sabrina Plum to speak about MSF and their personal experiences working with the organization. First, they presented where and how MSF works. MSF is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organization dedicated to providing medical assistance to people affected by armed conflicts, environmental disasters, and epidemics. They also focus on over 80 million people who have been forcefully displaced and on people deliberately excluded from healthcare and “populations who have slipped through the cracks” including migrant workers and street children. Some ways that MSF helps include vaccination campaigns, especially during the outbreak of covid-19, and non-medical support including water and sanitation and other basic needs. They also dedicate a warehouse to making critical care kits which are designed for when there is limited medical staff. One of these kits carries enough supplies to treat 10,000 people for three months.
Then, Sharmilla and Sabrina spoke of their experiences with MSF. Dr. Sharmilla Shetty is a pediatrician currently working for MSF’s access campaign. She has experience working in Lebanon in a pediatric ward in a Palestinian refugee camp. She also worked in an in-patient mobile clinic in Uganda and a high-neonatal mortality in-patient care clinic in Sudan. Dr. Sharmilla emphasized that MSF doesn’t take sides, especially in armed conflicts, and maintains neutrality to protect MSF from hospitalities. Sabrina Plum has worked in Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Niger in the past and is currently a logistics manager for MSF. She establishes the pay scale and HR support.
We had such a great time listening to our mentors and are so grateful they put aside time to give us more background about MSF and their personal experiences working for the organization.
To learn more about MSF, visit their official website: https://www.msf.org/
Feel free to sign up for FoMSF Binghamton through our GroupMe link attached below and follow our Instagram page to keep in touch with upcoming events!
Groupme: https://groupme.com/join_group/85076392/aFG9EZLP
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msfbing
Crystals, Tea, and Everything in between
Naturopathic Medicine and Crystal Healing
By Jasmine Kaur, Website Manager
Last meeting, Friends of MSF at Binghamton presented about herbal medicine and crystal healing! Herbal medicine is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are the basis of traditional medicine. Herbal medicine is prevalent in China in the form of Traditional Chinese medicine and touches on the energy balance of the yin and yang and how it can be restored using herbs. Types of herbs used in medicine include ginkgo, chamomile, and ginger. The most common way of extracting the medicinal properties of these herbs is herbal tea. Many samples of herbal tea were distributed to members of MSF at the meeting and they included peppermint tea, chamomile tea, and even wild berry tea (my fav).
Crystal healing, another non-western practice believes in crystals’ ability to channel your energy into healing the body from within. Two cultures that utilize crystals are India and Egypt. In India, two religious texts speak about the origin and power of crystals in which pearls originate from Vala's teeth and rubies are from Vala's blood. In Egypt, crystals are used in rituals and are believed to help guide people into the afterlife. In addition, many Egyptian pharaohs can be seen wearing lapis lazuli jewelry as it was believed to promote wisdom and knowledge. Cleopatra was also known to wear it as eyeshadow. Recently, crystal use has become more mainstream and you may even find them in your local convenience stores.
Lastly, MSF spoke on the use of non-western medicine such as Acupuncture, Chiropractors, and magnetic field therapy. If you are interested in learning more, all this information (and more) can be read about in-depth in the following link:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1K_QLcwRMCbloUk74TAACfDz3qtlMYOWlVRZrdXamw6k/edit?usp=sharing
Feel free to sign up for MSF through our GroupMe link attached below and follow our Instagram page to keep in touch with upcoming events!
Groupme: https://groupme.com/join_group/85076392/aFG9EZLP
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msfbing
What would you do?
Medical Ethics: Phi Delta Epsilon & FoMSF
By Jasmine Kaur, Website Manager
Last Thursday, Friends of MSF at Binghamton collaborated with Phi Delta Epsilon to discuss medical ethics. First, we were presented with the four pillars of medical ethics: Autonomy, Beneficence, Non-Malificence, and Justice. Autonomy essentially refers to a patient's right to make their own decisions provided they are given all their options and are in the right state to make decisions for themselves. Beneficence is prioritizing the patient's interests and ensuring holistic, patient-centered care. Non-Malificence means “Do no harm” and lastly, Justice means treating all patients equally and within the law.
Some topics we discussed included how to handle terminal illnesses, patient privacy, birth control, Physician-assisted Suicide (PAS), Stem Cells, Genetic engineering for hereditary disorders, and vaccinations. Overall, all the topics require reference to the four pillars to justify a fair course of action for a patient.
Feel free to sign up for MSF through our GroupMe link attached below and follow our Instagram page to keep in touch with upcoming events! We hope to see you all at our next meeting: Naturopathic Medicine and Crystal Healing ( Tuesday, Oct 11 6pm @ LH 4)
Groupme: https://groupme.com/join_group/85076392/aFG9EZLP
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msfbing
The fight for COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution to countries in need
The fight for COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution to countries in need
By Eda Akçal, Junior Advisor
The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic not only profoundly affected the lives of every individual globally, but also caused significant socio-economic damage and the need to develop vaccines. Over the last several months, vaccines have been made available for the public to fight the virus. These vaccines aim to provide protection against the virus and potential uprising variants. However, one particular issue that came along with vaccine development was proper distribution. A large number of individuals remain unvaccinated which can potentially lead to the rising of newer variants as COVID-19 is highly transmissible. Additionally, developing countries have few health facilities that can accommodate individuals with serious illnesses. In order to control the virus, enough doses of vaccines need to be produced in several locations across the globe, particularly in many parts of the developing countries and priced affordably to provide the individuals in need with free vaccinations.
According to Our World in Data, a database that provides recent official statistics from health ministries and governments across the globe, out of the 4 billion individuals vaccinated, where 27.6% have at least one dose when broken down into each country only 1.1% have received even one dose of the vaccine. In low-income counties, this percentage is as low as 0.3%
Keeping these current factors and issues in mind, it is necessary to scale up the production of vaccine production in a safe and effective manner to ensure low-income countries get access to the doses they need, to successfully overcome the challenges of the pandemic and ensure the safety of everyone for better futures.
MSF Tabling at Spring Fling
MSF Tabling at Spring Fling
By Eda Akçal, Junior Advisor
Friends of MSF at Binghamton, was proud to be tabling at the Spring Fling event at Binghamton University, to raise more awareness about the club and the work done by MSF. We had many prospective members visit our table, learn more about the club, MSF, previous and current work done by the organization along with future events our club plans on hosting. Big thank you for the ones who signed up and joined our GroupMe. We were very happy to have everyone who took the chance to visit and hope to see again soon!
Feel free to sign up for our club through our GroupMe link attached below and follow our Instagram Page msfbing to keep in touch with any upcoming events!
✧GroupMe Link: https://web.groupme.com/join_group/85076392/aFG9EZLP
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