My Time in San Antonio de Areco, Argentina

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Valeria Bonomie ('25), a Health and Societies major, travelled to San Antonio de Areco, Argentina to study local healthcare accessibility initiatives under the mentorship of Dr. Adam Mohr (Departments of Anthropology and Health and Sociology of Science) through the support of the Gelfman International Summer Fund.

While studying abroad in the Fall of 2023, I spent a week with the Municipal Territorial Health Program of San Antonio de Areco studying their rural health program. The program's emphasis on removing barriers to healthcare and strengthening ties within the community was of great interest to me, mirroring what I've studied in my degree thus far. The people and my experience there inspired me to want to return and study their successes in more depth. Because of CURF, I was able to do just that.

During the 5 weeks I spent in Areco this summer, I observed a team of healthcare professionals dedicated to improving outcomes for their neighbors, facilitated by their door-to-door health visits and Whatsapp communication. Their definition of health was also transformative; the interventions framed health as not only the absence of disease, but the presence of mental wellbeing and environmental security. This trip provided me with so much personal, professional, and academic growth -- growth that I continuously become more aware of as time passes.

While the bulk of my research took place in a town of about 23,000 people, some of my days were spent in the neighboring towns that housed only hundreds. The communities were all incredibly close-knit and welcoming. My first connections were with the healthcare staff of the many primary care centers and the hospital. Everybody who walked through the door of the health centers was greeted by name, asked about their families, and embraced like they were family themselves. The staff introduced me to their neighbors, and suddenly I was a part of it all too. They invited me to drink yerba mate, to attend various cultural celebrations, and I was welcomed into countless homes. Many of the people I met invited me to university classes related to what I was studying, allowing me to learn from their system of healthcare and explain a little about my own. I was even interviewed on the local cable television channel about the work I was doing in their town (pictured below)! The connections I made are ones that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

The end product of my work this summer will be my senior thesis in Health and Societies, an academic goal I’ve had since I began my undergraduate career. As a rising senior, I often have doubts about my next steps, and this research has given me some clarity on what they could be. Both the subject of my research, community health interventions, and the act of research itself are areas I want to pursue further. The program that I was studying has been a big source of inspiration for my future. Witnessing the level to which it has achieved its goals of increasing accessibility to healthcare makes me want to apply its methods in my own community. Aside from the technical aspects of the work, its overall philosophy of expanding the definition of universal coverage past simply providing free services has changed how I view the role of healthcare systems in our lives. 

The act of conducting research itself was also incredibly rewarding. I felt good at what I was doing! I was faced with roadblocks and rollercoasters of emotion, but working them out on my own, with the help of my incredible advisor Dr. Mohr, accelerated my learning even further. It was empowering to step outside my usual title of Research Assistant and become my own Primary Investigator, despite the growing pains. I also learned about how to connect with people no matter who they are. Conducting interviews requires a certain level of trust and vulnerability, and it was great to learn how to share my own experiences and learn about the experiences of everybody I spoke with. Overall, this experience has greatly impacted my future academic and professional plans while allowing me to make memories I will not soon forget.

The connections I made not only helped make the research more enjoyable, but also provided valuable perspective on the importance of this research. Through these rewarding connections, I now see the crux of successful healthcare as relational, with the bonds formed between patients and healthcare professionals as paramount to success. San Antonio de Areco has that aspect of care expertly mastered, and the people I met practice it in their daily lives as well. I left the trip excited to build community in my own life and practice the ideals I study outside of an academic and professional setting. It’s also great to know I have friends in Argentina now who would open their doors for me if I ever return, which I plan to do sooner than later.

Interested in reading more first-hand accounts about undergraduate research? Check out the other experiences featured on our Student News Page and Social Media!

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