Nurses reach out to Peruvian families
Lindsay Walters  ’01

   “I witnessed an accommodation with life, a wisdom inherent in another culture, tremendous human resilience and resourcefulness” reminisced senior nursing student, Megan Souders “Those we taught and cared for, taught us so much more in return, lessons that cannot be learned in classrooms or in books,” she continued. From March 3 to 9, Dr. Elizabeth Keech, assistant professor of Nursing and Karen McKenna, clinical assistant professor of Nursing led a trip of 15 students to Chulucanas, Peru to help impoverished families better care for themselves.  A graduate of the Villanova nursing school, Marybeth Apel, a certified nurse practitioner, and Geraldine Lebaudy from the department of modern languages served as translators. The group of students was a mixture of senior nursing students and Campus Ministry students to help meet both medical and social needs of the community. 

   The nine nurses divided their day by visiting homes in the morning and teaching classes in the afternoons.  Within the homes of the community, the nurses dressed wounds, assisted victims of strokes, diabetes, heart defects and cancer by explaining how to take their medication and advising them when to visit doctors.  The nurses found that poverty hindered many families from visiting doctors and refilling their prescriptions.  Michelle Van Brunt commented, “When you can’t do anything you are faced with the question of what can we do? We found that we could give them encouragement, show them we care and pray with them.” The afternoons were instrumental in helping the community to better care for themselves by improving their daily living routines.  Classes were taught in the Hymelic maneuver and safety procedures in preparing foods.  Women’s health issues were addressed by demonstrating breast exams, cervical and uterine exams and checking blood pressure regularly by using the eight donated BP machines the nurses brought to the community.

   The primary goal of the trip was to implement education to better the lifestyle of the families. Acute care of many illnesses was impossible but simpler things such as education of nutrition and its effect of diseases, immunizations and sanitation and food preparation proved very helpful.  This basic education solves seizure disorder and parasitic illnesses. McKenna stated that the trip was “incredible and laid the foundation for very long term health education in Peru and to help the community move forward.”

By laying a foundation for better health, generations of Peruvians will live more healthful lives; free of many diseases they now know how to prevent.

   Six campus ministry students traveled to Peru and lay the foundation for a church that the community has been hoping to build for over 30 years.  The six students dug out and laid the foundation for the church and the community continued to build the walls.  Noreen Cameron of Campus Ministry joined efforts with Dean Fitzpatrick of the College of Nursing to bring these two groups of students together.  Peru was chosen as a location for this trip through the Augustinian connections of Daniel Turley, the current Bishop of the Chulucanas Archdiocese and Father Richard Appicci, who has served for the Archdiocese of Chulucanas for 27 years and is now at the University.  This is the third year for this trip and each year the number of interested students continues to grow.  McKenna and Keech incorporate the trip into their class “Nursing and Health Promotion,” a six-credit senior course which designates three credits to the trip. Their attempt to incorporate real life situations into the classroom proved to be a success as each year their trip grows with more interested students.  Freshman Matthew Szelag, the youngest student on the trip commented, “For a week, I took time out of my life to forget American society and tried to provide hope for those living in poverty. I opened my eyes to injustice when others chose to turn their backs and I’m a better person because of it.”  This statement embodies the goal of McKenna and Keech and demonstrates that education outside of the classroom can be meaningful.