Gillian, Lindsey, Ny and Caroline here! We are 3 second year genetic counseling students, and 1 genetic counseling program director, from Sarah Lawrence College.
Genetic counseling is a medical profession that focuses on providing both emotional and informational support to individuals affected or at risk for genetic conditions, and their families. Genetic counselors help people understand and adapt to the medical, psychological and familial implications of genetic contributions to disease.
There are currently genetic counseling training programs available in 15 countries around the globe. Genetic counselors are available in these and other select countries. However, given that we live in a world with approximately 195 countries, it is clear that only a fraction of the world’s population has access to practicing genetic counselors. Countries without access to new genetic counseling graduates or established genetic counseling positions lose out on the benefits that the profession has to offer, such as access to reproductive and genetic health education.
Once we recognized that there was a global need for access to genetic services and counseling, we decided to create GenetAssist. GenetAssist is an organization of trained and culturally sensitive genetic counselors who will travel to countries in need of genetic services to assist with genetic education and service provision.
Dr. Marta Julia Ruiz, a native of Antigua, Guatemala, approached Caroline during a visit to Sarah Lawrence College. Her visit was part of a trip to the United States organized for her receipt of an award for humanitarian work on the Population Council’s Abriendo Oportunidades (Opening Opportunities) project. The Population Council is a nonprofit organization for youth and reproductive health. Dr. Ruiz spoke to Caroline about the lack of genetic counseling in Guatemala, and her desire to educate health care professionals in genetics and refine their existing programs.
Over the following months, we collaborated with Dr. Ruiz and her colleagues and organized an initial trip to Guatemala. This project will be the pilot program for GenetAssist! During our weeklong visit, March 19-26, 2011, we hope to: network with existing outreach organizations, form connections with health care professionals and perform a needs assessment. Thereby, hoping to create a plan of action to implement the requested genetics services.
Throughout our trip to Guatemala, we will use this blog to keep you updated on our day-to-day progress and activities. Stay tuned!!
-Gillian, Lindsey, Ny and Caroline
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