My Trip to the Dominican Republic

In April I had the amazing opportunity of going to the Dominican Republic to provide nursing care. My team consisted of twenty-two other students from the Georgian College RPN or BScN program and four nurses who were teachers at the school. There were three other teams that went as well but to different areas and at different times. My group stayed in the Occa Mountains, which is in the middle of the country. While we were there we set up health clinics in local communities or would travel to rural areas and perform health assessments. We brought many medical supplies and medications with us, which were all donated by a variety of sources. As we set up our health clinics each day we would have an area for health assessments, a treatment center, a desk for parasite medication, and a desk where individuals could receive new medications or refill expired medications. While I was there we also got to work in the local hospital for a day and did many home visits within the community. This experience was very challenging as I did not know the language and was fresh out of school. Over the ten days I was there I was stretched in my nursing knowledge and felt much more confident returning back to Canada. If any of you ever have the experience of going to another country to use your nursing skills do not hesitate in going, as it is the experience of a lifetime. One major thing that I learned while I was in the Dominican was that we are so privileged here in Canada to have the health care system that we do, so do not take it for granted. Above is a picture of my group and I travelling to a town in the mountains. It was a very bumpy and scary ride along narrow roads that wrapped around some very steep mountains.