Andrea Gonce in Mongolia with Peace Corps
BU grad in Mongolia with Peace Corps
The Voice
MONGOLIA - Andrea Gonce, a 1998 Bloomsburg graduate in anthropology, is currently serving in the Peace Corps in Mongolia.
Gonce works at the Emergency Medical Center, where people dial 103, the 911 of Mongolia. The Center receives approximately 350 calls a day from people seeking medical assistance. There, difficulties range from high blood pressure to a potentially broken leg, Gonce said.
At the Mongolian Medical Center there are only 15 physicians. Because of the limited number of physicians and the sometimes vast distance they need to travel in order to respond to an emergency may take upwards of 25 minutes. The Center's staff works for 24-hour shifts.
According to Gonce, during the long days, physicians have to visit as many patients as they can and provide the highest quality care possible. All the doctors respond to calls regardless of their specialties.
For example, Gonce said, one physician named Santugs visited fourteen patients in a nine-hour period. The patients had symptoms varying from faintness, abdominal pain, vomiting, car accident, loss of consciousness, hypertension, and chest pain.
The center is in the process of introducing modern and progressive methods. The Center also severely lacks Western medical materials needed to provide appropriate emergency care.
Gonce will be working in the Center for the next year and a half. She is staying in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. Her apartment, with its hot running water and a refrigerator, is atypical of the usual experience of a Peace Corps volunteer.
Gonce said although her anthropology classes at Bloomsburg were amazing, they couldn't have prepared her for the things she had seen and experienced during her time there so far.