Our MedSpanish Global Health Program has been in operation in the State of Guanajuato since 2002. The impetus to spearhead this program stemmed from the desires of US Medical trainees who wanted to assist with Dr Hall’s international health programs, but who also wanted to learn how to communicate with their Spanish-speaking patients better. A specialized Medical Spanish School was started in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where PACE has trained approximately 450 US health care personnel, including practicing physicians, advanced practice nurses and PAs, as well as residency program specialists in training, and medical students. The profiles of the students are family and emergency physicians, internists and pediatricians, midwives, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, as well as occasional ObGyn providers. Summer pre-professional students are trained as first responders and ride with Red Cross Ambulances, therefore cutting across all phases of one’s medical career.

The program provides accelerated clinically based immersion (clinical, hospital, Red Cross) and individualized, one on one Spanish language instruction and cultural literacy. Our students are better able to care for and relate to the growing number of Spanish speakers in the United States and become more culturally literate. MedSpanish Global Health students take this opportunity to longitudinally participate in Global Health projects while learning Spanish and Latino Culture.

Although most students come simply to learn Spanish, some of students also make significant contributions to our Global Health training programs by participating in, or even initiating some of our impact programs. For example, the ALSO course came from a MedSpanish student, as did the Advanced Airway course. The MedSpanish program is an incubator and allows us to maintain our leading edge, since the students come from the full spectrum of US medical institutions.

Initially, the MedSpanish program produced enough revenue to seed the rest of the PACE program. In the last years it has been slowed by the H1N1 outbreak in Mexico, issues regarding security, as well as the economic depression, which put a damper on travel and, not insignificantly, the distraction of the success of our other programs. But the students seem to be coming back.

Our plan for the program, in addition to expanding the immersion components to other locations (Guanajuato City, San Cristobal Chiapas) is to begin developing a “MedSpanish Anywhere” program, using a combination of synchronous and asynchronous on line training, as well as a MedSpanish instructor and coordinator certification, allowing the MedSpanish student to train in a number of settings. The organization is presently developing the first edition of the PACE MedSpanish instructors/coordinators manual.

PACE provides Continuing Medical Education (CME) Credit, which makes the experience tax deductible, and which counts towards the provider’s relicensure. Often, employers have CME funds for their employees, allowing them to tap into these funds to finance the experience.