After working on a relief team in rural Nicaragua, Dawn Lenau feels she'll be ready for her new job as a nurse at Metropolitan Hospital.
Lenau traveled with a group of Grand Valley State University nursing students to the Central American country to staff clinics for villagers with limited access health care providers.
Lenau called the October trip an eye-opening experience, and said students and nursing staff treated about 2,000 people during the 10-day trip.
The biggest thing for me was the culture, she said. Now, I'm not afraid to approach someone of a different culture. Also, my confidence level has increased exponentially, and that will help me with nursing duties.
GVSU's Kirkhof School of Nursing began organizing relief teams to Nicaragua in 1999, after Hurricane Mitch had struck the country's western region. The first two teams, in January and March 1999, were funded and assisted by Mayflower Congregational Church of Grand Rapids and Higher Ground Ministry of Colorado. Another trip, for which students earn academic credits, is planned for February 28.
Gayla Jewell, assistant nursing professor and coordinator of the Nursing Center for Global Health, said following the 1999 visits, Nicaraguan leaders created a list of needs and ideas to meet them. Because they lacked resources, Nicaraguans worked with relief team members to formulate a long-term plan for community growth. Identified needs included nutrition education, gender empowerment and sanitation improvements, but health clinics remained a priority.
Now we are looking for grant funding to train (Nicaraguans) to be community health providers, Jewell said. This grant proposal is a joint effort of Miraflor community leaders, LaTrinidad School of Nursing (south of Miraflor) and the Nursing Center for Global Health.
Students who make the trip are required to collect donations of adult and children's vitamins, medications and other necessities (including white socks to help combat athlete's foot, due to high humidity levels and inadequate footwear).
Clinics are then established in dense population areas of Miraflor. Bachelor's level nursing students, master's level nurse practitioner students and faculty ¿ along with Miraflor residents ¿ work 12-14 hour days to accommodate the patient load.
Their emotions are stretched to the edge, Jewell said of her nursing students. No one said this would be easy. To make the effort to step outside one's realm of comfort and enter another's reality is a soul-wrenching experience.
For more information about the project, contact Jewell at 616.336.7174, or email her at [email protected].
