Global Brigades at UPEI offers students hands-on, volunteer experience relevant to their future career path. The student-led club is affiliated with the Global Brigades Organization, an international movement of students and professionals working alongside local communities and staff to implement sustainable solutions to health and economic disparities. Global Brigades employs a holistic model approach to help address various health and economic problems on a large scale. As a student involved with Global Brigades, you will learn about Global Brigades' core concepts, including sustainable development, Global Brigade foundations, ethical volunteering and the culture in Global Brigade partner countries.

Global Brigades' primary focus at UPEI is annual service trips open to students called Brigades. Brigades take place in remote, rural, and under-resourced communities in Honduras, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama (your Chapter Leader will determine the destination of your brigade). Each brigade is unique and offers hands-on experience consistent with the program type. Certain brigades may be more suitable for you depending on your program and career interests. Global Brigades offers 6 Brigades: Medical Brigades, Dental Brigades, Water Brigades, Public Health Brigades, Engineering Brigades, and Business Brigades.

Visit the UPEI Global Brigades page at GlobalBrigades.org. 

Medical Brigades

The Medical Chapter at UPEI employs approximately 20 students to participate in a 7-day Medical Brigade each year. During a Medical Brigade, volunteers have the opportunity to take vitals and patient history in triage, shadow licensed doctors in medical consultations, and assist in a pharmacy under the direction of licensed pharmacists. In order to participate in the Medical Brigade, students are responsible for a fundraising goal that covers the expenses of the trip. To help reduce this cost, the club puts a significant focus on fundraising events throughout the school year.

Read about the work the Medical Brigade did in Ghana in summer 2024.

If you would like more information on the UPEI Medical Chapter, please reach out to our President or Chairperson. 

Additionally, there is a new student-run UPEI Medical Brigades website with lots of information useful to potential volunteers and the broader community. It includes "who we are, what we do, upcoming meetings and events, and more!" The monthly newsletter will also be available on the website. 

Olivia Van Hul
UPEI Medical Brigade President
ofvanhul@upei.ca

Regan Sentner
Campus Chairperson 
resentner@upei.ca

Visit the UPEI Medical Brigades page at GlobalBrigades.org. 

Engineering Brigades

University of Prince Edward Island is a chapter of Global Engineering Brigades, an international movement of university students working alongside local communities and technicians to implement clean water systems in the developing world. Water systems are designed, planned, and budgeted with partner communities and local leaders are identified by the community to serve as the community’s Water Council, which collects monthly water fees from households to operate and maintain the constructed water system. It then takes several months of construction by volunteers, staff and community members to complete and can include several large scale components, such as dams and storage tanks in order to pipe clean water to individual homes. Engineering volunteers specifically work on the design and planning stages of the water projects to ensure that they can later be successfully constructed. In conjunction with our Water and Engineering Programs, Global Brigades also supports communities with healthcare, economic development and sanitation projects, and uniquely implements these programs in a holistic model to meet a community’s health and economic goals. Our model systematically builds community ownership and collaboratively executes programs with the end goal of sustainably evolving to a relationship of impact monitoring.

Read about the work the Engineering Brigade did in Honduras in winter 2024. 

Maddy Cronin
UPEI Engineering Brigades Chapter President
mmcronin@upei.ca

Visit the UPEI Engineering Brigades page at GlobalBrigades.org. 

Dental Brigades

There are currently no Dental Chapters at UPEI. If you are interested in founding a dental chapter or would like more information, please reach out to Reilly Sullivan.

Water Brigades

There are currently no Dental Chapters at UPEI. If you are interested in founding a dental chapter or would like more information, please reach out to Reilly Sullivan.

Public Health Brigades

There are currently no Public Health Chapters at UPEI. If you are interested in founding a Public Health Chapter or would like more information, please reach out to Reilly Sullivan.

Business Brigades

There are currently no Business Chapters at UPEI. If you are interested in founding a Business Chapter or would like more information, please reach out to Reilly Sullivan.