Anyone interested in how Cuba gets the most out of every dollar spent on healthcare while the US gets the least, while Cuba maintains health statistics that rival or better those of the US, must hear Melissa A. Headley MD and Medina Vernon MD speak about attending the Latin American Medical School in Havana on scholarship from the Cuban government at a screening of “Salud!” (Health!) at 7:00 pm on Friday, November 18, 2016 at 118 Elliot, 118 Elliot Street in Brattleboro, Vermont.
The event is the third in Windham World Affairs Council’s popular, free “Understanding Cuba Through Film” monthly series which pairs great films and speakers with an authentic Cuban dinner, presented with support from the Vermont Humanities Council, 118 Elliot and Express Fluency language school.
This Friday’s film Salud! (Health! –2008, Connie Field, English and Spanish, 90 minutes, but showing shorter excerpt Friday night) looks at the curious case of Cuba, a cash-strapped country with what the BBC calls ‘one of the world’s best health systems’ and the largest medical school in the world where students from the developing world, including scores from depressed areas of the US, study supported by Cuban government scholarships in exchange for an agreement to practice in under served areas of the world as MDs.
The pre- and post film discussion will feature Melissa A. Headley, MD and Medina Vernon MD, both of whom practice at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn with medical degrees obtained by participating in the Cuban government scholarship program. Dr. Headley and Dr. Vernon will talk about their most unusual journeys to becoming doctors and how their experience in Cuba informs their work in one of the most economically disadvantaged areas of Brooklyn.
A delicious, vegetarian-friendly Cuban dinner is served by donation starting at 6:30 pm. Please RSVP to windhamworldaffairscouncil@gmail.com to make sure we have enough food on hand to satisfy all.
The event will also provide information on MEDICC — Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba — an Oakland, California based non-profit that publishes the only peer-reviewed journal of Cuban medicine, MEDICC Review, copies of which will be on hand at the event.
Photo of Dr. Headley and caption: Melissa A. Headley, MD who trained in Cuba will speak with SALUD!, a film on the Cuban healthcare system.