Fighting rheumatic heart disease together in Samoa

Students and alumni at Brigham Young University strive to emulate the motto “enter to learn; go forth to serve.” While attending school they learn to care deeply about the lives of others and to lead by example as community builders, problem solvers, and lifelong truth seekers. From partnering to combat Alzheimer’s and dementia to tracking dragonfly species across the globe, BYU’s College of Life Sciences is always striving to find meaningful ways to give their students inspiring learning opportunities and give back to the community.

One such project is Rheumatic Relief, a collaboration between BYU students, faculty, and alumni; the Samoan Government; and medical professionals from Revere Health and the Mayo Clinic. Children in Samoa have a much higher propensity for developing rheumatic heart disease than children in many parts of the world. Rheumatic Relief was created as a three-pronged effort to diagnose and treat, research, and educate about rheumatic heart disease.

Samoan health professionals work year-round to prevent and treat rheumatic heart disease, yet they have limited resources to care for all the children affected with rheumatic heart disease. Each summer a group of students, faculty, and clinicians from Rheumatic Relief spend two weeks in Samoa diagnosing children and educating caregivers on how to prevent rheumatic heart disease and care for children who have it.

The disease, which starts with strep throat and develops when rheumatic fever ensues and isn’t treated, can be fatal — especially for children ages 5 to 15. As part of BYU’s Rheumatic Relief program, students and faculty from Brigham Young University annually help thousands of Samoan children and literally save hundreds of lives during each trip. “We’re trying to address the needs of Samoan children in as many ways as we can to eliminate suffering,” says BYU professor Richard Gill, a faculty member involved with Rheumatic Relief. “Meanwhile, the BYU students are seeing how service is directly connected to education.”

“Going to Samoa and being able to use the skills I’ve learned in the classroom for those wonderful people was amazing,” says public health major Emily Romney. “The happiness that is exuded there is just contagious.” Lizzy Braby, another undergraduate volunteer and a student-athlete on the women’s soccer team, says, “I went into this experience thinking I was going to make a difference in other people’s lives, but I think the biggest part for me was coming home and realizing they made the biggest difference in my life.”