Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
I wanted to go back at least one more time in my life, and I knew this was my shot. That I was able to share this experience with (my son) makes it all the more special.
By Micah Mertes
As a fourth-year dental student in the summer of 1988, Don Czaplicki, BA'85, DDS'89, cared for underserved patients through the Institute for Latin American Concern (ILAC) in the Dominican Republic.
He recalls every detail vividly: hiking mountain passes with his designated burro; the clinic’s many tooth extractions and infections; the kindness and hospitality of everyone he met.
“ILAC is such a Creighton thing and such a Jesuit thing,” says Czaplicki, who runs a family dental practice in the Milwaukee metro area with his wife and fellow alumnus, Cathleen Czaplicki, BA’85, DDS’89. “ILAC is about helping others, but you get in return as much or more than you give. I’ve been talking about that experience all my life.”
Don’s son, Alec Czaplicki, has been hearing about that experience all his life.
Alec, now a fourth-year medical student at Creighton, says his father’s stories inspired him to go to the DR himself. In high school, Alec took a two-week ILAC immersion trip where he helped build latrines. When it came time to pick a medical school, he chose Creighton, in part, because of the University’s ILAC partnership with Centro de Educación para la Salud Integral (CESI).
After his first year in medical school, Alec took his second ILAC trip to the DR. This past summer, he took his third (but hopefully not last). Because of his proficiency in Spanish, he served as a coordinator and group leader.
This summer, his father joined him.
“I wanted to go back at least one more time in my life, and I knew this was my shot,” Don says. “That I was able to share this experience with Alec makes it all the more special.”
For Alec, the ILAC immersion served as a fourth-year medical school rotation where he could help care for patients with, most commonly, hypertension, diabetes, gastrointestinal issues and chronic pain.
For Don, it was a chance to volunteer, treat patients, mentor dental students and work with his son.
Alec and Don lived with the same host family during their trip and worked together in the clinic. They made sure to tap each other’s expertise as often as they could. Alec asked for Don’s help caring for patients with dental issues. Don asked for Alec’s help in translating and conducting medical pre-op health screenings.
Alec recalls one moment in the clinic when Don walked by and said, “I’m not sure we’ll ever get to do something like this again. But I really hope we do.”
During his undergrad years, Alec was torn between dentistry and medicine. In the end, he chose the latter.
Alec knows he made the right choice in pursuing medicine, but he’s continued to wonder what it would have been like to follow in his parents’ footsteps and work alongside them in the family clinic.
ILAC gave Don and Alec the chance, if only for a brief time, to care for the same patients in the same clinic.
“It was a really cool thing to work together as clinicians, at least this one time,” Alec says. “In the ILAC clinic and in the community, I got to see how he cares for his patients and interacts with people. There couldn’t have been a better place for us to connect like this.”
For both Alec and Don, the experience revealed a new facet of their father-son relationship. ILAC allowed them to see each other in a new light.
“I loved every second of this summer’s trip,” Don says. “Working with Alec was the best part.”
It’s a trip they will both be talking about for many years to come.
