A showing of “Bending the Arc,” the award-winning documentary about how three young people began a movement that would change global health forever, will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, April 22, in Rigas Family Theater at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. 

 

The event, free and open to the public, is sponsored by the School of Health Professions at St. Bonaventure and by BonaResponds, the university’s student-powered volunteer relief agency that travels far and wide to help those in need. Doors to the theater open at 5:30 p.m.

 

“Bending the Arc” tells the story of how Dr. Paul Farmer and other young activists started a public health revolution by treating patients in the developing world who had been abandoned by the health establishment.

 

They managed to bring together the resources to build real health clinics in areas that had been ignored by everyone else — where patients were as likely to arrive by donkey as by ambulance — and stocked them with the same medical supplies that could be found in places like Harvard Medical School.

 

Their legacy is Partners in Health, a global organization that ensures quality health care to vulnerable communities. They have 12 clinics around the world, including those in Haiti, Kazakhstan, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone. 

 

It’s an inspirational story and one that students interested in health care or in service more broadly may find particularly moving, said Dr. Scott Medler, an associate professor in the School of Health Professions’ physician assistant studies program.

    

“‘Bending the Arc’ is an example of how vulnerable populations can be served with respect for human dignity,” said Medler. “The values exemplified by Dr. Farmer and his colleagues are those that we at St. Bonaventure aspire to embody: a community of compassion, wisdom, and integrity. By watching this documentary in the company of like-minded people, we hope to generate thoughtful reflection and discussion about serving our own community.”

 

Students from the School of Health Professions will participate in activities stemming from the documentary designed to promote interprofessional education within the school, he added.

 

Learn more about “Bending the Arc:” https://bendingthearcfilm.com/

Learn more about Partners in Health: https://www.pih.org/

      

 

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. St. Bonaventure was named the #5 regional university value in the North in U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 college rankings edition.