Returning home from Costa Rica was bittersweet. It was bitter because we left the warm weather and beautiful scenery for the icy cold temperatures of New England but sweet because we get to flush our toilet paper! This experience has definitely been a reality shock for many of us in the sense that we are amazingly thankful for the little privileges that are incorporated into our daily lives, like having a hot water heater that doesn't have a manual timer outside of the shower. I know that most of us had an idea as to the kind of living conditions that we would possibly witness some of the underprivileged Costa Rican natives living in, but I don't think that we ever thought that it would effect us as greatly as it did. I know that Rachael and I personally saw our lives in a different perspective, suddenly becoming thankful for everything that we had at home and no longer feeling as though we need more. Clinically, we have all grown immensely. Each semester, we have had one subject that we focus on in clinical but on this trip we were faced with patients from all ends of the spectrum. I feel as though we were well prepared and really refined our critical thinking skills. I feel as though we also got a great experience in dealing with patients who have a large lack of knowledge. As Dr. Lancaster had described from her experience at Boston Children's Hospital, people in the U.S. are so aware and sometimes over-educated when it comes to medical conditions. We got to deal with people that have no knowledge of their familial medical history or theirs. I know that I personally encountered one patient who stated that she takes seven pills at home, but she doesn't know what any of them are for. She was also unsure of wether or not she had hypertension, diabetes, or COPD, but her main complaints were symptoms of all three. These people trusted everything that we said to them and were so attentive to all of our instructions. It was such a rewarding and truly invaluable clinical experience, in so many ways that I cannot put into words. This is an experience that each and every one of us will carry throughout our nursing careers, no matter where they take us. I fully believe that it has made us stronger as students, human beings, and medical professionals alike. After this trip, there is no longer any lingering question as to whether or not this is what we are meant to do with our lives. Heather and Rachael

Pura Vida Costa Rica!

Hi everyone!

Bianca and Kim here writing to you from Jaco Beach! Bianca and I have enjoyed our time very much here in Costa Rica.  We both agree it is easily one of the most beautiful places we have ever traveled to.  From the people to the sunset we have no words other than Pura Vida! Costa Rica is truly the "Pure Life".  Over this trip we have met some amazing people who truly taught us how privileged we both are.  We are very humbled by our experience.  The people of Costa Rica have appreciated every second of time we have given them. After 62 hardworking hours of medical care we finally got to enjoy our time as a group at the Baldi hot springs.  If anyone wants to know the WIFI password Kim has no idea what it is! We had an amazing time in the 116 degree hot springs.  The beauty of volcano in the background was breath taking.   We truly have grown as a group through collaboration not only in our clinical skills but as friends.  We will take every memory good and bad and will carry it with us forever.  We are the bakers dozen!

1/9/2014

Hello all from Emily and Cassy here. Today was an amazing day! We ended up treating 21 patients. Some of us were nervous about today and others not, but overall we were all excited! We have seen a wide variety of illnesses today: UTI’s, gastric issues some related to stress, fungal issues, coughs, dermatitis, and more.

The thing that stood out most today was when Dr Lankaster took the time to talk to the patient who had gastric issues that stress was making even worse. She was so kind but very firm, encouraging, and motivating and gave the patient advice on how and where to find work, how to dress for it and everything. We were impressed with the time she took and the advice she gave outside of the specific medical portion of the visit. After clinical some of us gave presentations and the rest will present tomorrow. The evening meals after our clinicals have been delicious and that is coming from a girl who is a very picky eater (CassyJ)! Below are some pictures from our adventures. Enjoy!


PICTURES WILL BE FORTHCOMING

Pictures of the church where we held clinic today!

Pictures of the church where we held clinic today!

Pictures of the church where we held clinic today!

Presentations that I (Cassy) did after clinical today.

Another beautiful day in Costa Rica. We started the morning dancing our butts off at the nursing home, the senior citizens have more energy than you think! We are now staying at the Montestary and the sister nuns are very nice. The yard is filled with all kinds of trees, avocado, mango, lime, almond and many more! Geographically Costa Rica is so diverse and beautiful, mother nature has done good here. The endless strawberry and coffee fields that line the horizons of the mountains are breathtaking and so pure. Just so you know there is a lot of hard work and land put into that morning cup O' joe! We just met with a Costa Rican nurse and the leader of International Service Learning for Costa Rica to learn a little more about how nursing works here. It seems that nurses in Costa Rica are overwhelmded with the workload, as many as 40 patients to 1 nurse! There is also a much larger demand for nursing care than there is supply, unfortunatley it is difficult for the nurses to find jobs but they are much needed. We have all felt such a team bond and connection within our nursing class on this trip and although we are all so diverse we have worked so well together! It is so comforting, I can't imagine another group of 15 girls that would get along so well for 10 days straight. Heading to the Arenal Volcano and Baldi hot spirngs tomorrow for our recreation day. Will be returning to the U.S of A the day after tomorrow, what a life changing expirience we have all had.

~Pura Vida~

Rhonda & Lexee

It is Saturday, and the weather is beautiful. Today we started our journey traveling through a windy road up the mountain about forty kilometers to volcano Poás. The sixty minute ride traveled through lush green hillsides lined with coffee plantations. We arrived at the park at around 8:30 in the morning, and quickly started the short hike towards the lower crater lake. The warning signs concerning what to do or how to respond if the volcano erupts were a reminder of the fact that we were at an active volcano which last erupted in 1995. Thankfully, no eruptions today. The first lake was socked in with cloud cover, which completely obstructed our view of the lower crater. A handful of us chose to make the journey up to visit the lagoon. Sucking wind at 8000 feet, we realized as we were going back down the loop that we had missed the observation point to see the upper lake. No worries, as its view, too, was completely cloud-covered. As we reached the bottom, we were excited we made it alive, though the lower crater was still cloud-covered. Twenty minutes of free time allowed for basking in the sun and/or souvenir shopping.

En route to our destination of Fraijanes, we were able to see our first sloth. This incredibly cute creature has the ability to hang upside down while crossing power lines and eating on the way. While stopped on the side of the road, we felt like tourists watching a moose on the Kancamagus.

After a lovely lunch in Fraijanes, we started on foot for our community visits in the town. These visits are a highlight as we have the opportunity to meet the local people and invite them to our clinica gratis. The Ticos (Costa Ricans) whom we met today were extremely warm and inviting as we asked them questions. They were also thrilled and incredibly appreciative with the opportunity to attend a free clinic.

We finished up the day by setting up the clinic in preparation for tomorrow. Tomorrow is certain to be an exciting day as we complete assessments. We are so grateful for the chance to practice our nursing skills and learn from our new friends who so openly share with us their lives and culture.

Pura Vida,
Mindy and Alex

HOLA AMIGOS!

We took care of another 21 patients today, 42 total between yesterday and today! It was so much fun and we learned alot. Some patients came in with certain complaints and we found new diagnosis' with the doctors, others were very proactive about taking this opportunity for a health check up. It is unbelievable that the patients do not have access to OTC drugs like tylenol and antihistamines. After our lunch break we opened the church for the families in the community to come and relax at our "beauty salon". There was 7 stations set up in the church; hair, nails, making valentines day cards, yoga, coloring, massages by Mindy and face painting. Tomorrow we are going to the Poas national park at 8,885 ft elevation. The park is one of the most breathtaking sites in the country and includes the Poas active volcano, one of the worlds largest craters, hiking to a lagoon and much more. After an early visit to Poas we are making home visits to the community of Fraijanes. We are hosting a clinic there on Sunday. Our expirience so far has been fantastic!  

~ Pura Vida ~

01/03/14

Buenas tardes,

As the senior nursing students and faculty approach our final two day countdown we are all very busy getting last minute supplies ready for our trip to Costa Rica and brushing up on our Spanish vocabulary.  We have received our itinerary for the ten days that we are there and will keep you all updated on our medical missions. 

Our group will have the chance to work in health clinics, provide home visits, meet with nurses in Costa Rica, visit a local nursing home, and even stay in a monastery the last couple of nights.  In preparation of our upcoming departure and the activities we're about to embark on, we have also been reviewing our fall semester curriculum and community health course objectives.  Our goal is to provide nursing care to the people of the community, analyzing their healthcare needs, creating nursing care plans, and assessing outcomes.  We will have the ability to approach different healthcare needs for individuals of another culture.   We are very excited for this once in a lifetime opportunity that will take our clinical experience to a whole new level.

Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers during our trip. We look forward to sharing our experience with all of you upon our arrival back to the states.

Angela Van Dine 

HOLA!

We started with a group walk/run through Alajuela bright and early at 6:30. We are very fortunate to have a professor who is also a yoga teacher, Sandra held a 45 minute yoga session at 7:30 and then we were off to the village of La Providencia! The community and homes were surrounded with the most beautiful flowers and massive hydrangeas. We arrived at the community iglesia (church) where we met the community organizer and he happily guided us around the village. We split into groups and went door to door taking a census of the homes, asking if anyone was sick and in need of care. We gave appointment slips to those who voiced a need and they will be attending our clinics tomorrow and Friday. It is very rewarding to know that the community welcomed us and is so grateful. Most of all, we should all know that we are very lucky for what we have! We handed out various donation gifts to the families and kids of the community, things such as coloring books, crayons and toothbrushes. After we handed out all of our appointment slips we stopped for some delicious helado (ice cream) and made our way to get souvenirs. The shop was really fun and had all handmade gifts, the factory was located on the same property and we saw people working diligently to make these gifts we are bringing back for you all! There were longhorns at the sounvenir shop that we found to be very cute and nice, how odd. We made our way to dinner and are back at Hotel Briasol. Will be back in La Providencia tomorrow. Life is good.

Pura Vida

Went  for a group run at 7 olock this morning. Exploring outside the walls of Hotel Brillasol was  exciting for all of us. We ran through the city streets of Alajuela and the photo above was taken ona more secluded, peaceful path. The picture doesn't do the mountains  justice. We got an overall feel for the local  area and quickly learned that unfortunately the countless dogs running around are not apppreciated and unconditionally loved like they are in the U.S.  A very sad thing for us doggie loverss. We also have some furry neighbors, mini deer,  they are the cutest things!  We met a wonderful doctor , Evelyn  Lankaster , she oriented us for about three hours and was so intelligent, enthusiastic and fun to listen to. She will be working at the clinics with us. We are about to play pictionary in espanol!

Pura Vida!