Nursing students volunteer in Dominican Republic
UIndy Nursing student Rauf Khalid assesses the needs of a Dominican Republican patient during the program’s Spring Break service trip to the Caribbean country.
By Dan Dick | Distribution Manager
For some, Spring Break brings to mind images of beaches crowded with beautiful people reveling in their youth, but for University of Indianapolis nursing students, Spring Break meant traveling to the Dominican Republic to offer less fortunate people some desperately needed aid.
“Many people there never get medical attention,” said Assistant Professor of Nursing Susan Oliver. “The trip takes the nursing students to a higher level of education, because we literally work in the middle of the field and have to make the best of some pretty unusual circumstances.”
The School of Nursing partnered with Score International, a faith-based organization that assists health care professionals in giving care to the less fortunate outside the United States. The organization’s Web site (scoreinternational.org) states that the purpose of Score International is to “evangelize, encourage missionaries and equip participants to do the work of foreign missions.”
Despite Score International’s assistance, individual students were required to pay for their own expenses, a fact that Connie Wilson, professor of nursing, believes may affect future trips.
“We know that students in the future may not be able to afford it,” Wilson said. “We even had a couple back out this year because of financial reasons.”
The supplies taken on the trip, which Wilson said were significantly less than in previous years, were provided by many who embarked on the mission.
“We first go to our individual churches and announce in advance that we are going on a medical mission,” Wilson said.
The nursing students and faculty have come to rely on fellow parishioners to provide over-the-counter items such as vitamins, Tylenol ™ and ibuprofen as well as the funds to purchase additional items.
In the past, faculty members have been able to procure supplies from hospitals and pharmacies, but the recession, coupled with many hospitals sponsoring their own missions, has left many unable to contribute.
“We know that the donations from pharmacies and places like [Eli] Lilly, where we get insulin, are going to be way down because they won’t have the extra to give out,” Wilson said.
According to Wilson, imagining the level of poverty in the Dominican Republic or in other impoverished nations throughout world is difficult without witnessing it for oneself.
“At least our homeless have a shelter they can go to periodically and can get a meal a day,” Wilson said. “Our poor are not nearly as bad off as what we have seen.” Oliver, who has made the trip five times, also spoke of the service trip as an eye-opening experience for those who participated.
“It certainly makes the entire team appreciate the normal, everyday blessings that we take for granted,” Oliver said.
Despite the setbacks to the mission, Wilson said she remains optimistic that some good can still be done. “One of the things is just ministering to the people,” Wilson said. “Somebody cares to go out to the field, listen to what’s wrong with them and try to help as best as possible.”
