Editor’s note: Students in the School of Nursing travelled to Nicaragua this past spring break to research the issues affecting the people living there.
‘The Study Abroad trip to Nicaragua went better than expected,’ said Philip A. Greiner, DNSc, RN Associate Dean for Public Health ‘amp; Entrepreneurial Initiatives. Students from Fairfield’s School of Nursing joined with two groups of students from the University of Central America (UCA), ‘Our Study Abroad contact, Alejandro Martinez, went out of his way to make the experience exceptional for us,’ said Greiner.
Lydia Greiner, MSN, PMHNP-C, the course coordinator for Public Health Nursing also helped facilitate the trip.
‘We look forward to continuing to work with UCA and the community leaders on upcoming trips. Nicaragua will become a major Study Abroad focus for the School of Nursing,’ said Philip Greiner.
Kim Buesking ’09, a nursing major who attended the trip, shares the story of her experience here:
Over spring break, I went to Nicaragua with 11 other nursing majors to’ work on Public Health Nursing.’
While in the country we spent most of our time in the urban community of Ayapal, a village where the people live on very little and are faced with problems such as floods, dengue, respiratory issues and other factors of extreme poverty.
We interviewed everyone from the one and only doctor, to the kindergarten teacher, to the individual families. Our goal was to try to understand as much as we could about the daily life in this community and the health concerns they face. We wanted to know what the community as a whole worries about and what they want to change.’
With this in mind, we spent hours talking with the mothers, fathers and children of the community.
The people opened their homes to us, complete strangers. They told us intimate details about their lives and their health without any reservations.’
On first glance, it seems as if they have nothing; but after spending time getting to know the people of Ayapal, we were able to see their many strengths and assets that kept this community going in the worst conditions.’
We did not go into this community thinking we would ‘fix’ anything, because they are the experts: We knew nothing about their lives.’
With the information we gained and the relationships we formed, we hope that we will be able to provide for them educational videos and healthy living information and continue our partnership in the years to come.’
This was the beginning of a relationship that we hope will grow with the other classes of nursing majors and as a University, we will be able to work with the community to improve not only their health, but their lives.
For a blog about service and study abroad in Nicaragua, click here.
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