Benedictine College students participate in a variety of mission trips throughout the school. While many are open to all, some are specialized to make a unique impact through disciplines like engineering… and nursing.
In March, a specialized medical mission trip took nursing students to Belize. The trip gave students an opportunity to practice certain skills and expertise while educating and ministering to a local community there.
According to Grace Johnson, a senior nursing student, some of the locals had rarely been to the doctor before.
“We’d set up the clinic in San Ignacio, and we’d do that from eight to four,” Johnson said. “Where we were set up was actually a school. They had like 600 or so kids. And so, during their breaks… they’d kind of come up to us, and initially, they were really nervous and kind of scared because a lot of them had super limited experience with doctors.”
Though nervous at first, the kids eventually grew more comfortable with the clinic, asking questions to the nursing students.
“As people started to realize we were just here to help, the kids would come up and be, like, oh, what’s this?” Johnson explained. “I think that was kind of a huge thing for a lot of these kids, because, most of them had never been to the doctor before, and if they had, it was because they were sick. So I think that’s another positive thing is it’s kind of exposing these kids to preventative medicine.”
Along with educating, the mission trip provided medications and checkups to locals.
“We did high blood pressure screens, diabetes screens, we were giving up a lot of vitamins, ibuprofen, all that kind of thing,” Johnson said.
Traveling with medications and equipment proved to have its own challenges. Some students, like Johnson, carried special suitcases full of supplies for the mission trip.
“For me, it was very intense, in a way, because I had never been outside of the U.S. before,” Johnson said. “And also, I volunteered one of my suitcases to be a checked bag, and we had, like, bedding, but we also had medications and our medical equipment.”
Johnson explained that she and other volunteers needed a special letter to waive them through customs with the bags of supplies. But once they had arrived, the challenge proved well worth it.
“I think my take away was seeing God at work in real life,” Johnson said. “And hopefully by us being there and showing the kids, that will get them to, like, at least plant the seed for them to consider seeking out preventative medicine. Because it’s there. It wasn’t being utilized. So hopefully our presence, our being there. will kind of push them towards utilizing it when they can.”
