Profile: Former NFL linebacker makes career change … in Havana

[Judi Lynn]

Profile: Former NFL linebacker makes career change … in Havana
By Isaac Eger

Pasha Jackson prides himself on punctuality, so when he arrived 20 minutes late to the interview, he asked for forgiveness.

“I got held up by some heavy Cuban stuff,” Jackson, 31, said.

The former NFL player, who still looks like a world-class athlete, is in his fifth and penultimate year of studies at the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) in Havana, Cuba. The Chicago native is one of 10,000 students from over 70 countries with low-income backgrounds — including some 200 from the United States — whose room, board and education are paid for in total by the Cuban government.

The heavy stuff that delayed Jackson was a breakthrough in his three-week pursuit of a rocking chair.

“All the chairs in my house sit awkwardly, and I want to sit down comfortably to read my books,” Jackson said. “So I’ve been wheeling and dealing; I’ve talked to four different neighbors, two carpenters and many people with broken chairs.”

On his way out the door, one of Jackson’s neighbors called his name and told him that he found someone with a dilapidated rocking chair they would let him refurbish at his own expense.

“I didn’t know when that situation was going to arise again,” Jackson said, “but that’s what it’s like when you need to resolver.”

More:
http://www.cubastandard.com/2014/04/24/profile-former-nfl-linebacker-makes-career-change-in-havana/

[newfie11]

1. Fascinating that Cuba trains doctors

10,000 low income students from 200 countries!
Maybe we could learn something from Cuba! Wake up America!

[Judi Lynn]

3. All that is asked of them is that they agree to practise an allotted time helping the poor

in their own countries as compensation for the investment Cuba has made in them, an arrangement students are pleased to honor.

Since I have started following info. on the medical program for U.S. students, I've seen students taken from Native American areas, children of Mexican migrant workers, young men and women from poor areas of large U.S. cities, etc. They are wonderful to discover in any tiny articles which make it to internationally read periodicals.

From the O.P.:

Jackson is inspired by the Cuban medical system and the doctors he has worked with in Havana.

“They are here to serve people. They are not all-powerful, all-knowing, looking down. What we are doing is working side by side, serving people.”

The only post-graduation commitment the Cuban government wants from students is a pledge to return home to practice in underserved communities.

When money is no longer the main driving force for physicians, “the notions of servitude, humanitarianism and altruism related to the profession are more clearly defined. Cuban doctors’ overall fulfillment must come from other recompenses.”

This system will show which students actually are in medicine because they truly mean to help people. It has a way of eventually getting to the heart of the problem.

[newfie11]

4. I've read these doctors are some of the best trained

I have a friend in Mexico that's a doctor.
He said once a doctor graduates they are sent to a small village for a year. That doctor is the only physician for the village and on call 24/7.

This is how they pay for their education.

[FrodosPet]

2. So finding usable furniture is a challenge in Cuba?

Having a lot of trained medical professionals is a good thing, but when is Cuba going to get busy training carpenters and furniture makers?

I guess if you get injured when your roof collapses, you can go to a sugar cane field and find a doctor cutting cane.