If you’re new to my blog, Hi! I’m Lauren, a first year medical student who was displaced by Hurricane Irma from Sint Maarten to the U.K. during the fall of this past year. During the hurricane, a lot of things were lost, destroyed, and have not likely been found since that fateful day in September. As part of the evacuation from the island, myself and 700 other individuals were evacuated from the island with only what we could fit in a backpack…and needless to say not much of what we wanted made the cut (I miss you Sephora make up brushes, Sonicare electric toothbrush, and mama will see you soon)… But amongst the things that we were forced to leave, our original White Coats as well as all of our medical supplies we had acquired for the beginning of first year had to be left in suitcases in Sint Maarten. We are due to be reunited in January, but we were definitely disappointed to be separated from our stethoscopes as they are the “you’re actually a med student” gift/supply that we all have the pleasure of buying or receiving as a gift prior to beginning the dumpster fire that is medical school…. And I mean like raging, dumpster fire… Obviously I’m kidding but I feel need like 4 years of sleep and then a nap to feel close to normal again.
Fast forward to beginning medical school in the U.K. about 1 month later in early October, we have begun our classes as well as had our first round of midterms. We may have just barely survived, but here we are twenty-something, tired, and semi-thriving. But the sad thing is that there are still no signs of our medical equipment getting to us to help us prepare during our Introduction to Clinical Medicine classes and workshops.
Well, all of that changed today with the help of the amazing team at MDF Medical Instruments! Today, all of the students who were moved to the UK without their medical equipment—aka most of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th semester students—were fitted with brand new equipment that all semester students were in need of! As first semester students, we personally received:
- cardiology stethoscopes
- oto/ophthalmoscopes
- pen lights
- sphygmomanometers
and I speak for all of us when I say I AM BEYOND ELATED AND FEEL SO THANKFUL!!
These are the GENEROUS gifts that @MDFInstruments gifted to the first semester students of AUC SOM while in the UK.
From the bottom of our hearts, MDF Instruments, you are such a generous and amazing company to have gifted all of these instruments to our student body in order to aid with continuation of our medical education! We came out of the hurricane humbled and grateful to be alive and able to tell our story. Receiving such critical equipment is such a blessing and for that we can never repay you… but also I have like a lot of student loan debt too so I’ll write you an I.O.U. for now…. Overall, we could never asked for anyone to take on supplying us all with new supplies, but as a company you have outdone yourselves, and we are so freaking thankful. IT’S A THANKSGIVING MIRACLE I TELL YA!
If you’re in the medical field, or an aspiring medical student, head on over to their pages on social media as well as their website and give them the love they deserve!
MDF Instruments:
Instagram- @mdfinstruments
Facebook- “MDF Instruments”
Website- MDF Instruments website
The Unconventional MD 