Three nursing students and a faculty member from the University of
Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing Kearney Division recently traveled
to Jamaica with a group of health professionals on an annual humanitarian
health mission. They were part of a 34-member group that went to Falmouth,
Jamaica, Jan. 24-31. Falmouth is a poor, medically-underserved city of
about 10,000 located about 20 miles east of Montego Bay.
For the students, Pam Bennett of Cozad, Andrea Malcom, of Minden, Jamie
Hinde of North Platte and nursing faculty member Becky Kreman of Kearney,
the trip is an opportunity to use their nursing skills in a country where
there is only one physician who serves the area.
Besides UNMC representatives, the group from around Nebraska included,
physicians, nurses, a physician assistant, pharmacist, dentist, physical
therapist, and other volunteers. They saw hundreds of patients, some of
whom travel more than 30 miles on rough roads to get to the clinic. With
a line outside the door most mornings, the nursing students get an opportunity
to take histories and blood pressures, screen for diabetes and assist in
exams and surgeries.
Each member of the group pays for their own expenses, which includes
air fare and living expenses while in Jamaica. The nursing students receive
community health nursing clinical credit for their experience.
The experience is almost beyond words, said Pam Bennett, UNMC College
of Nursing Kearney Division nursing student. It was extremely educational.
I had the opportunity to do nursing tasks that I haven’t done yet. We had
a chance to experience a little bit of everything. I gained a lot of practical
experience from this trip, and it makes me more self confident in my nursing
abilities, said Bennett.
She also enjoyed the culture. The people in Jamaica need our help,
she said. They appreciate every little thing we did for them and that
made me feel good about myself, and the work that the team was doing.
The students also delivered donated toiletries and clothes and provided
health screenings at the Girls Home of Safety, a resident of about 75 mostly
orphaned school-age girls. The group will go again next year. Anyone who
would like to donate medical supplies, clothes, dental supplies, eye glasses,
and other items is asked to contact the organizers of the trip: Dean or
Keitha Thomson, 708 Centennial Ave., Nebraska City, NE, 68410, or drthomson@navix.net.
Dean is a physician in Nebraska City.