Pictured: Members of the Nursing Department in Guatemala, including six graduate family nurse practitioner students led by Dr. Susan DeNisco, 14 undergraduate obstetrics nursing students led by Dr. Kathy Fries, Professor Shery Watson and Professor Eileen Yost and Christina Gunther, undergraduate nursing administrator, along with a few of the Pastores volunteers.  

With increasing enrollment in the Nursing Department and decreasing clinical site availability, the Nursing Department leadership was forced to find alternative on-site learning locations for the clinical portion of nursing courses.  Dr. Kathy Fries, UG Program Director, decided to embark upon a field experience mission trip to Guatemala as a pilot for clinical learning.  Not only would the Nursing Department be promoting the University’s goal of service learning, but they’d potentially be providing a rich experience for undergraduate obstetrics nursing students and graduate family nurse practitioner students.

Our nursing department group of 25 arrived on March 6th laden with 24 suitcases filled with donated medication, medical supplies, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and bags of Beanie Babies, the only toy many of these children would have ever received.  We met with the mayor of the rural town of Pastores, Miguel Lopez, and many volunteers, including our friend, Pastor Mike to set-up our first clinic day. All groups combined, we had 60 volunteers for our five-day, seven-site clinic around Pastores and its Aldeas (Burroughs).
 
Our first day was disorganized and chaotic, but then we found our groove – reception first, triage, waiting area, exam room, then over to the pharmacy.  We became a well-oiled machine moving people through the clinic, while providing the best care possible with very limited resources.

We quickly realized this trip would provide much more than just an OB experience.  For more information and pictures please visit Christina Gunter's web blog  www.shunursing.ning.com 
or Julie’s mission blog at http://juliesguatemalatrip.blogspot.com/
 

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