Summer Project will Benefit Future of Health for Children in Turkey

Hartford, Conn. – Deniz Vatansever, a Trinity College Davis United World College Scholar (’10), spent his summer making health care more accessible to students in his native Turkey.   His project, which was inspired by statistics revealing the lack of medical supplies and healthcare for Turkish students, created significant ripples in his homeland and has already left a mark on its people.

Sponsored by a Trinity College Student Initiated Research Grant and Grossman Fund, Vatansever worked with Professor Nazan Bilgel, M.D. Division of Family Medicine, University of Uludag Medical School, and 10-12 senior medical students from her division to hold educational sessions, perform health screenings for over 500 children, and create a fully equipped health clinic/nurses office at Alara Primary School in the city of Bursa, Turkey.

Deniz Vatansever checks a student at Alara Primary School in Turkey.  Health screenings were provided to over 500 students.  For the full photo gallery, click here.

“Most public schools are comprised of students from minority groups, orphanages and low income communities,” he said.  “My intention was to equalize the students’ access to health care regardless of their financial situation, ethnicity, religion, age or skin color and provide the basic grounds for each student to succeed. I believe eliminating the effect of discrimination at the level of basic health care delivery will play a significant role in lessening the number of possible future conflicts and will create a more peaceful and safe environment for the normal development of children.”

The main goal was to use the Alara Primary School as a model for the other 34,000 primary schools and their 10 million students in Turkey.  Except for around 850 private institutions, none of the public primary schools in Turkey possess any medical personnel or supplies that are essential for the everyday medical needs of students.  At the school, Vatansever installed a budget to ensure replenishment of supplies and established a relationship with the Family Medicine Division of the University of Uludag in order to encourage medical students and professors to utilize this primary school as an internship site and carry on periodic health screenings. 

In addition, Vatansever successfully lobbied government policy makers to pay greater consideration to the importance of accessible health care for children.  Mustafa Bozbey, the Mayor of the District of Nilüfer in Bursa, was in attendance for the ceremony, which received significant local and national media attention, which Vatansever says he hopes will increase awareness of the importance of good health.

Vatansever at the ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating health facility improvements at the Alara Primary School. For the full photo gallery, click here.

“The goal of the project was to create a healthy environment for the children of tomorrow and to provide them with basic medical care to improve their quality of life,” Vatansever said.  “Looking at healthy minds as a gateway to promote peace, my hope was to play a small role in the education and upbringing of healthy individuals.”

Vatansever, majoring in neuroscience with a minor in writing, rhetoric and media arts, devotes significant hours not only to his academic field, but also to a variety of extracurricular activities and volunteer opportunities. Besides his internship and research work at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and his hometown, he has been serving both the local and the global communities through his projects as the president of the American Medical Student Association on campus, and through volunteer work at a primary school in Ghana, West Africa. 

In addition, Vatansever earned faculty honors in four semesters and is a resident assistant, a teaching assistant, a manager at Cinestudio, and a head tutor writing associate at Trinity’s writing center.  Vatansever, who was a professional swimmer for nine years, says his objective is to become a medical doctor in order to further direct his passion for science towards the well-being of others.

To see a photo gallery of Deniz and his project in Turkey, click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trinitycollege/sets/72157622480022542/.

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