During spring break in March 2018, a group of 14 students and 艾可直播from the Connell School of Nursing traveled to one of the poorest communities in Nicaragua to provide primary care and health education to its residents and to learn more about that country's health care, social, and political systems.
The Connell School team worked at the Nueva Vida Clinic in Ciudad Sandino, where the community endures extreme poverty, lack of basic resources, poor sanitation, and insufficient access to health care鈥攃onditions that contribute to many health issues, especially among children. The community depends on the clinic鈥檚 staff, as well as on residents who serve as part-time health promoters, for care.
As the BC nurses visited the homes of residents and supported the work of Nueva Vida, they witnessed the resilience and strength of the people of this community. Videographers from BC鈥檚 Office of University Communications documented their experiences.
Mary Ladesic
鈥淚 have gained so much from this experience, even more then I have given.鈥
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Lea Nelligan
鈥... contrasting my experience as a nurse to other nurses and the differences in the health care systems鈥
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Kaitlyn Patel
鈥... finding places where social injustices occur and just how one person can make a difference鈥︹
Samantha Bondaryk
Family Nurse Practitioner Program听
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to meet people where they鈥檙e at and try to leave behind your own expectations鈥︹
Diane Quinones
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Program听
鈥淜ids have such a great lens of looking at the world鈥︹
Hannah Ruede
Adult/Geriatric Nurse Practitioner Program听
鈥淵ou are given this听 opportunity to really enter into the life of another鈥︹
Rosemary Byrne, RN, MS, FNP-BC
Clinical Instructor听
鈥淵our opportunity is, just be鈥︹
Sherri St. Pierre, MS, APRN, PPCNP-BC
Clinical Assistant Professor
鈥... sit as a group, process that and talk about it and support each other鈥︹
Melissa Sutherland, Ph.D., FNP-BC
Associate Professor
鈥淲hat I see in the BC nurses is this commitment to humanity, this commitment to social justice鈥︹