It's obvious in principle, but not always in practice, that there's more to nursing than medical knowledge.
Crossing language and other cultural barriers, nine Seattle Pacific University (SPU) students got to put the idea into practice recently in another country.
The nine, among them lifelong Queen Anne resident Teresa Chally, participated in a six-week nursing mission to Nicaragua from Feb. 5 to March 21. The trip was co-sponsored by SPU's School of Health Sciences and Seattle Pacific Reachout INTernational (SPRINT) Program.
Accompanied by instructor Valerie Stalsbroten, the students learned about Nicaragua's healthcare system and worked with underprivileged families through the ministries of PROVADENIC, a nonprofit communal health program which benefits dispossessed communities that would not otherwise receive any health services.
All participants were women, all nursing students, all seniors. (The nursing program at SPU does include men, but none availed himself of this opportunity this year.) Participants raised their own money for airfare, room and board, training and other expenses.
Obstetrics was the focus of their visit, with most of their time spent in the Nicaraguan capital Managua, a city of 1.6 million people on the southern shore of Lake Managua. They worked for a week in a public women's hospital in Managua, and another week in a private Baptist hospital.
Nicaragua is entirely Christian: 85 percent Catholic and 15 percent Protestant. Of the Protestants, most are Baptist.
In three teams of three, the students went into delivery rooms as birth coaches. In Nicaraguan hospitals it is not customary for women in labor to receive support, not even from family members. "One woman was so grateful to my team for supporting her," says Sara Blodgett, another student who went on the trip, "that she let us name her baby. We named him David."
"Women in labor there are stoical," says student Brianne Gessaman. "They grimace, but they don't cry out in pain."
Not many of the students speak Spanish, but they all improved their skills because, in addition to nursing, they attended language school for two weeks. They easily learned comforting words, and the words for "breathe" (respire) and "push" (puja), which sufficed in the delivery room. Learning medical terms in Spanish was more difficult, but a doctor was always present, so it was never absolutely necessary.
After a birth, the students followed up with the new mother in the nursery.
On Fridays each team worked with a young family in a Managua barrio. The last Friday, they held a health fair for all the families.
For one week the students left Managua and worked in two rural mountain communities in the Matagalpa region. "They welcomed us warmly," says Sara. "In churches, they sang special songs for us, and we sang songs like 'Amazing Grace' for them in English."
During their mountain sojourn they were billeted in small medical clinics, and in Managua they stayed in a dormitory, not in people's homes. But they were invited to people's homes for dinner, feasting on traditional Nicaraguan dishes such as gallo pinto ("painted chicken"), and church youth groups often made them lunch.
In and out of hospitals, the Nicaraguans they met were open about their lives. All the students agree that "Val, our leader, was especially good at eliciting peoples' life stories."
Toward the end of their visit, the students attended a seminar on mental health care, then spent a day in Nicaragua's only mental health hospital.
"It's a subject with many stigmas attached," says Brianne. "People with mental health issues are often forgotten and sometimes ostracized by their families, and society as a whole."
Given such attitudes, it's not surprising that mental health care is understaffed and not well funded. But there are Nicaraguans who want to change that. "The woman who ran the seminar spoke passionately about therapeutic relationships," says Teresa.
SPU is a Christian university founded in 1891. Located on Queen Anne Hill's north slope, it boasts an enrollment of almost 3,800 students.
Its SPRINT Program is committed to cross-cultural, short-term missions, spreading the Gospel through community development and mobilization of students into ministries related to their vocational interests.
Why not do good works for their own sake? What might seem to some like dual purposes is a clear, single purpose to the students who went to Nicaragua. "We practice our faith by serving others," says student Amanda Jordan.
So, what did they learn? "A lot," says Teresa. "For starters, the importance of emotional support in hospitals, not just medical."
"That you have to meet people where they are," says Sara. "Even with limited technology, we were able to do that."
"It was eye-opening to see the effects of poverty," says Brianne. "We have so much in the U.S."
SPU's senior class will graduate June 11. Teresa, Sara and Brianne all want to work in pediatrics and have applied for jobs at Children's Hospital here in Seattle. Other mission participants are going into a variety of medical settings, some out-of-state.
Their experiences in Nicaragua can only make them better nurses.[[In-content Ad]]
