Student Brought Some Cranford On Medical Mission Trip To Peru

CRANFORD, NJ - Jennifer Fleissner went on a summer medical mission trip to Peru and brought some Cranford caring and hospitality with her, as the senior Physician Assistant Major at King's College collected supplies and donations from locals.

"I returned from Peru last week and wanted to send you some quick updates on the amazing experince I had while volunteering," she told Patch. "Our Physician Assistant Medical Service trip to Lima, Conte Grande, was a once in a lifetime experience."

According to Fleissner, her group was able to meet and treat over 1,000 patients over the course of three weeks.

"With the money raised and the donations received we were able to make 300 dental kits, 245 hygiene kits, and 200 first aid kits for the patients and residents," she said. "We were also able to purchase a Hemocue machine to test for anemia as well as glucometers and test strips."

In Peru, 55 percent of children below the age of five are anemic and the gift of our Hemocue made such an immense difference to this community, Fleissner said.
"We would hold campaigns each day. For example we would have an 'eye glasses' day or a 'diabetes' day where we would test patients vision or their glucose to see if they had diabetes," she said.

Fleissner grew up on the south side of Cranford and graduated from Cranford High School in 2016 where she enrolled in King's College because of their five year masters in Physician Assistant Program. Currently, she is starting her fourth year in the graduate phase of the program. It was her college that chose Peru as the destination.

"My school had the idea to start an outreach program in Peru. Two Physician Assistant Professors put the trip together because they saw the immense need in Peru," she said.

Fleissner thanked everyone who helped send her on the trip fully loaded.

"Thank you everyone for your extreme generosity and for helping us make such a impact in Lima," she said. "I will be forever grateful for the amazing resdients of Cranford in helping make this trip everything it was able to be."

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