Our firm is excited to announce our second GOtoGROW Scholarship winner, Cheryl Onwuchuruba, MD, an OB/GYN at Novant Health Randolph OB/GYN- Charlotte. Dr. Onwuchuruba was officially awarded her scholarship in February of 2018 and will be traveling to Haiti for a week on January 5th, 2019 with the Bless Back Worldwide medical team.
GOtoGROW is a scholarship program created through a partnership between Spaugh Dameron Tenny, LLC and Bless Back Worldwide in January of 2018. The purpose of the partnership is to send physicians and dentists on medical mission trips to Haiti and Nicaragua. In Haiti there is only one physician for every 3,000 people and only one dentist for every 31,000 people.
Dr. Onwuchuruba is very excited for her trip to Haiti. Read below to feel her excitement to share her talents with the women in Haiti or click here to view the video: Dr. O Interview
I really wanted to go on a Bless Back trip because I enjoy medical mission work. During my training in obstetrics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, I went on a few medical mission trips to Guatemala. I loved the ability to give back and provide healthcare to countries that have less access to healthcare than we have here in the United States. I’m excited to go on this journey with Bless Back Worldwide, because this opportunity allows me to offer my talents in a different way, through a very special experience.
I’m most excited about the focus on women’s health for this Bless Back trip to Haiti. We will be hosting a women’s symposium in Haiti, which is different than most of the other Bless Back trips. The symposium is a women’s health fair where we will be educating the women through classes and teaching them specific subjects. All the women who attend the fair will be able to come back to the clinic for the rest of the week and receive medical care from us for free. As an OB/GYN, women’s health is what I do day in and day out. From what I hear, we will be seeing anywhere between 200 to 300 women throughout the week in Haiti. We will be able to not only educate them on aspects about themselves and their bodies, but also treat their ailments in the clinics.
There are so many countries in need and I am excited to be a part of Bless Back’s mission. The organization started as temporary relief during the turmoil from the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. After the earthquake hit, the initial Bless Back group of about 22 people traveled there to serve temporarily. That to me is one of the greatest things about Bless Back, that we are not only going to treat patients every few months, they actually have a clinic there year round. The patients can now frequently visit the clinic to access medical care, rather than having to travel to a major city where they can’t afford the medical care and travel costs.
Thankfully I have been on multiple medical mission trips in the past, so I am not particularly nervous about any aspects of the trip. Bless Back has been very well organized and we have already started our planning meetings and sessions for the trip, so at this point I’m just excited to go and am looking forward to having a great time.
I look forward to making one-on-one connections with the women of Haiti, to teach them about their bodies and self-care. I really hope to offer them quality education on the specific gynecological issues that they see daily, where they may not have access to someone that can really help them to recognize what is normal and abnormal. I want to share my expertise with the women on topics including methods of contraception, sexual health, obstetrics, pre-natal care and I hope to put my stamp on the healthcare methods in Haiti to make a difference for the people.
Apply for a life changing experience through a GOtoGROW Scholarship by clicking the button below:
CRN202005-231624
Molly was the marketing director at SDT from October 2017 through November 2020. She is passionate about connecting with people, digital marketing, and serving her community.
