Nursing Students Giving of Themselves

STUDENT NURSES GOING TO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC TO HELP: Part of Effort to Bring Health Care to the Poor

Eight D’Youville College senior nursing students, along with two nursing faculty members have volunteered to travel to Juan Dolio in the Dominican Republic on January 6, 2012 to provide basic healthcare to the poor and underserved in that area. They will spend seven days "in country” helping those that live there and return to the U.S. on January 13.

In cooperation with The Chapel at Crosspoint in Getzville, the students and approximately 22 other local health care professionals such as doctors, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, physical therapists, and nurse practitioners will be making the trip. They will serve all age groups from infants to the elderly. Theresa L. Arida, a registered nurse and assistant professor of nursing and Shannon McCrory-Churchill, a certified pediatric nurse practitioner also an assistant professor of nursing at the college, will head up the student group. "We will be doing diagnosis, disease assessment, planned intervention, administering what medications we will have, blood pressure readings and teaching preventative measures such as washing hands, and boiling water,” Professor Arida said. "It will also allow our students to hone their assessment skills. The Dominicans speak Spanish and fortunately, four of the students already speak Spanish, some take the ‘Spanish for Health Care’ course at D’Youville, and one student speaks Kreyol, a Haitian Creole language.

This is the second year D’Youville has sent volunteers to the area and it is a revelation for the students. The students see the vast cultural differences and issues in health care and have a better understanding and appreciation of the U.S. health care system, according to Professor Arida. "They will also develop a greater sense of compassion for those in need. In the U.S. a nurse can go into any medical room and get the supplies needed to treat a patient; not in the Dominican Republic. There are no supplies, you adapt. In addition, students and faculty realize how blessed we are in the United States,” Arida said. "Many of the people seen in the Dominican Republic do not have access to basic necessities such as food and water, for them, healthcare is considered a luxury that few can afford.”

One of the students, Annie Johnson, a native of Ghana, a nation in West Africa, who was in a refugee camp as a young girl, and will be graduating, as a nurse in May strongly believes in this effort. She remembers being in the refugee camp as a child and how grateful she was when the missionaries came with supplies and healthcare. "I want to give back and help people less fortunate,” she said. "I want to join the Peace Corp or another organization that goes to poor countries to help the people who live there. I strongly believe in this type of a mission.”

The nurse volunteers will live in an old hotel with six to a room, and will care for their patients in remote places using tents, old schools and even an old chapel, all without electricity and some without running water. They will bring prepared food and use water filters. Parents of the students who will be going fully support the program and feel it is an important part of their education, the students said. This will be the second trip for Professor Arida. "If I can make even some small impact, I feel I have responsibility to do so, how could I not return this year?” she said. "To see the smiles, appreciation in the eyes of the children and adults, and the hugs you receive, is so heartwarming it makes everything worthwhile.” The cost of the trip is $1650 per individual and the students have been holding fundraisers and raffles to raise money to try to offset the costs. The students pay $250 each toward the cost and are soliciting personal and corporate donations to make up the difference for the trip.To help, contact Professor Arida at 829-7763, aridat@dyc.edu or Professor McCrory-Churchill at 829-7829, mccrorys@dyc.edu.