A man from a rural village in the Caribbean broke his arm falling down a rocky embankment last December. Rather than making the expensive trek into the city, where he likely would have encountered long lines at the public hospital, he waited three days until the expected arrival of health care volunteers from USM. Holly Stewart, a first-year graduate nursing student, was among the team that treated him.
The next team of USM students, faculty and volunteers will make the twice-yearly foray to the north coast of the Dominican Republic July 19 for USM’s Health Outreach Program there.
A diverse team of health care professionals and volunteers has been making the trip twice a year since its inception in 1995. In rural villages in the Dominican Republic, routine health care is generally nonexistent. Emergency care is almost as hard to obtain.
The program provides free health care and education to rural villagers while providing nursing students with hands-on experience.
Volunteers provide check-ups to anyone who seeks care, offer relevant health education, and provide basic health supplies like Tylenol and vitamins. On average, the team helps between 1,600 to 2,000 villagers each trip. They always visit the same 14 villages to provide continuity in care, said Anne Keith, associate professor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions.
The program has grown since its start in 1995. Eight volunteers participated on the inaugural trip.
There were 48 on the 13th trip in January, said Carol Doane, instructor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions.
Keith conceived the program following a trip to the Dominican Republic in 1993. “I went on vacation and kept wishing I had my students with me,” she said.
Most USM students who participate in the outreach program are nursing students. Language students also attend. In the past, students from sociology, social work, and anthropology have gone on the trip.
Organizers recruit other volunteers from all over Maine. They travel with volunteer medical doctors and registered nurses. Sometimes they bring dental students from the University of New England and other specialized doctors like optometrists.
Volunteers stay at Centro Fusima?a, a Catholic retreat in the town of Lajas DeYaroa.
“It’s like going to scout camp in a Third World country,” Keith said. The barracks-style dorms have over beds equipped with mosquito netting. The team eats the local food, primarily rice and beans and a lot of avocados, said Keith. There is never hot water, and sometimes there is no water at all. Despite this, the students do not complain.
“It’s not as bad as I thought it would be,” Stewart said.
Each day the group travels to a different village. They get up around 7 a.m., eat breakfast at 7:30 a.m., pack the pick-up truck, and then leave around 8:30 a.m.
Once in the village, volunteers set up makeshift clinics in chapels or community centers.
The most common ailments treated are skin infections, leg ulcers, ear infections, as well as chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, hypertension, and diabetes, Keith said.
In preparation the team purchases supplies in the United States. Volunteers pack bandages, gauze, generic-brand medications, toothbrushes, soap and other medical and hygiene supplies, which costs approximately $7,000 per trip.
Fundraising efforts cover the cost of supplies. In addition, each student or volunteer then pays $1,250 to cover traveling and housing expenses.
This year students sold Yankee Candles, sponsored a “pizza night” at Uno’s Pizzeria, and ran a bake sale at Luther Bonney Hall to raise money to pay for the supplies. At a recent meeting of the USM Student Senate, nursing students requested and were granted $2,750 to help new students cover the traveling expenses of the trip.
Jen Warren, senior nursing student, is one of the volunteers preparing for the July trip. She said the program’s draw was the opportunity to assess and help treat a range of illnesses. Most clinical experience offered through USM is individualized toward one type of patient, she said. In the Dominican Republican, students encounter patients of all ages with different states of health.
Junior nursing student Sarah St. Pierre said she chose the program because it was an opportunity to practice nursing in an entirely different culture and atmosphere. She said the trip to the Dominican Republic was a good opportunity to hone her assessment skills.
“It will probably be one of the best things I’ve done in my life,” St. Pierre said.