Deploying to Grenada: Continuous Learning in a Limitless World
Sarah Olson
With only mere weeks until we fly to Grenada, I am filled with such a wide mix of thoughts and feelings— excitement, anxiousness, and eagerness are only a few of the cacophony of emotions that I think many of us departing to the Spice Isle are experiencing. As my group moves forward with our preparations, I can’t help but reflect on how I have arrived at the point in my global health journey that I am currently at.
In my junior year of undergrad, I studied global health in northern India for a month. This was the foundation of my desire to continue my education in public health, and to pursue an eventual career in epidemiology. I took away knowledge of health, of communities across the globe, and of what public health work actually looked like. Years later, I still recognize that this experience will be something that I cherish and reflect upon in all of the aspects of my professional development to come.
The following year, I completed an internship at the Clinica Esperanza in Roatán, Honduras. My peers and I trained to assist in the medical clinic and collect data on child nutrition in the rural villages of the island, which became my first experience in public health fieldwork. This, along with a then-recently-completed introductory epidemiology course that I had taken, inspired me to apply for the Global Health Epidemiology masters program at Michigan.
Here I stand two years later, coming off of a week spent with PHAST in spring 2025 implementing a community health needs assessment in San Antonio, and completing my summer internship in Kumasi, Ghana where I worked on projects surrounding maternal/child health resources in the Ashanti region.
My time at Michigan is coming to an end, but not before deploying to Grenada. The beginning stages of preparation are always filled with unknowns and question marks. What will our work in-country look like? How can we best prepare for this experience? How can I best support and work for the needs of the community in which I will be visiting?
I am looking forward to arriving in Grenada and familiarizing myself with the rich social and cultural dynamics of the island as well as the people and organizations in which I will be working with. I am excited to put in the work to strive for public health outcomes that will benefit the community, and to form meaningful connections with new faces.
But more than anything, I am excited to learn. To take note of the local aspects of life in Grenada, to ask questions and research, to approach this experience with cultural humility and flexibility, and to take in the sights and discussions and new experiences like a sponge.
A lot of learning will be done in the next couple of months, and for that, I am thankful.
