Author: Paige Williams | Major: Biology: Semester: Summer 2024

I visited St. Mary’s Cathedral in Limerick, Ireland and it was beautiful! The Cathedral originally opened in 1879, and I enjoyed learning about the history and admiring the architecture.

I had the amazing opportunity to study abroad through the Health Care and Social Services program in Ireland. I was there for 19 days during the first summer session, and it was not long enough! I am a Biology major on the pre-med track, and so I was really interested in learning about healthcare in different countries. Ireland’s public health system is so different from ours, and I was excited to compare and contrast the two. I wanted to learn more about social services as well, as I believe it has a strong impact on the overall well-being of a patient’s mental and physical health. An important lesson that I learned on this trip, is to always be open-minded and understanding of the context of someone’s life before judging their circumstances. This was a point commonly accentuated throughout the program and the organizations that we visited. While abroad, I visited multiple organizations and communities benefiting from Ireland’s public health services. With my group, we visited a mental health advocacy program, a dementia care center that followed a unique household model, an organization for young adults with intellectual disabilities known as Brothers of Charity, and the Irish Wheelchair Association which provides services for both older and younger adults with intellectual and physical disabilities. We also visited a food pantry at the University of Galway, as well as other disability services throughout the country. The visit that impacted me the most was the dementia care center called Care Bright. This experience was so eye-opening for me, because it was drastically different from the nursing homes we have in the United States. Care Bright uses a household model giving residents more autonomy as well as a better sense of community considering their circumstances. I noticed the outstanding level of care that these residents received, and how it positively impacted their quality of life. This differed from what I saw in US nursing homes, as there were fewer staff attending to a greater number of patients. Observing the household model in person and experiencing that sense of community was an amazing experience and one that I will surely never forget. I also enjoyed visiting Brothers of Charity and the Irish Wheelchair Association, because I was able to interact with members of the organization. I learned about the everyday challenges that members face, and how the organization works to provide educational services as well as employment for those members. I loved getting to know these members and learning about their passions and goals in life. These organizations strive to help young adults with intellectual disabilities find work placement and jobs that utilize their skills and passions using government funding, which I thought was unique to Ireland. The United States and Ireland share many differences concerning public health, the biggest difference being who pays for such services. In Ireland, the government pays for most health care and if you are an Irish citizen with a medical card you receive free health care. However, while this seems like a utopia, I learned that there were some important consequences to this system, and not everything is as perfect as it seems. This was enlightening as a young person going into health care, as I hope to use my position to advocate for the population and their health requirements. It is important to discuss the pros and cons of every situation and decide which path makes the most sense to reach a certain goal. This program provided me with amazing opportunities to interact with people and learn important lessons about healthcare that will benefit me in my future career.