Dream Come True: PA alumna moving to El Salvador for medical mission work
Photo by Greg Eans, Messenger-Inquirer
From the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer newspaper:
Owensboro native Jessie Franey is preparing to move to El Salvador in September to assist with a new medical practice in San Marcelino, which lies on the coast of the country.
Franey, a 2017 graduate of the College of Health Sciences' Physician Assistant program, is involved with an organization called Emerge Global that dedicates itself to assisting indigenous people in their home countries build stronger communities.
“We’ve had different micro-enterprise development outreach programs (in El Salvador) like chicken co-ops, tilapia farms, aquaponics and a soccer ministry,” Franey said. “Our newest endeavor is opening the primary care medical clinic.”
Franey, a physician’s assistant by trade, has worked in internal medicine and pediatrics for the last four and a half years in Lexington.
“Two years ago (Emerge Global) asked if I’d consider coming on board to open and run the clinic,” she said. “They’ve had missionaries in the area for five years and when they brainstormed about the clinic, my name came to mind.”
Franey said Emerge Global has done nonprofit work in other countries aside from El Salvador, including Portugal, east Africa and the United Kingdom.
“There are different things we focus on in different countries,” she said. “El Salvador is comprehensive in what we do down there.”
As Franey gets ready to head back to El Salvador in September, she can’t help but feel like it’s a little unreal.
“It’s been a dream of mine for the past two decades to work in Latin America,” she said. “I have a masters degree in Latin American studies and focused on public health a development along with PA school.”