Jitzley Alcantara, DO, recently took her skillset to Merida, Mexico for a one-week medical mission trip with Advent Health’s Sharing Smiles, offering compassionate care to improve the quality of life for disadvantaged children.

Alcantara, a PGY-3 resident in the department of anesthesiology at the University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville, said the program partners with host health care systems abroad and focuses on education, training and health care. Volunteer physicians and clinical staff make these mission trips possible.

“It was an amazing experience,” Alcantara said. “I was grateful to receive a scholarship funded by USAP to attend. Global anesthesia has always been an interest of mine, even before applying to residency, and now this experience has opened that door.”

While in Mexico, she provided anesthesia services while pediatric patients underwent cleft lip and cleft palate repair procedures. In one week, the Sharing Smiles program delivered care to 51 patients and completed 60 procedures.

“I loved being able to strengthen my pediatric anesthesia skills abroad and learn new nerve blocks to assist with surgical pain management for these children,” Alcantara said. “It was a very rewarding trip. I was able to learn from both the traveling and local medical teams.”

The mission trip made a lasting impression Alcantara said, and she looks forward to more opportunities abroad in the future.