BY VANESSA MEJIA

A group of Cal State San Bernardino nursing students willing to work hard and give back did some learning beyond the classroom and even outside the country.

Assistant nursing professor Asma Taha took eight CSUSB nursing students on their first student outreach trip to Jamaica on July 15, where for nine days they had the opportunity to help and practice a number of different nursing techniques.

“It was a good experience for my students to have hands-on work,” Taha said.

The group visited a number of health centers, hospitals, an infirmary and an orphanage, where they provided health assessments, checked blood sugar, vaccinated children and even participated in a wound clinic and performed different dressing changes.

Many of the nursing practices they completed were done manually because of the limited amount of resources available. Nursing student Danielle Snydal, from Victorville, mentioned the lack of blood pressure machines and ultrasound dopplers used to detect fetal heart rate.

“So now I know I could respond in an emergency, and know I can work without fancy machines,” Snydal said.

Snydal went on to describe the conditions facing the Jamaican nurses and patients. Because the hospital is free, the resources are stretched to accommodate everyone, making the trip a humbling experience to see the extreme work nurses do for little pay.

In the orphanage and infirmary, students saw patients that had been abandoned with no caregivers. Students witnessed the impact physical touch had on the patients.

“We walked around, visiting, talking, touching, shaking hands, putting a hand on a shoulder.” Snydal said. “They longed for touch.”

Along with the other students, Snydal saw how even the workers’ faces would light up to see their patients respond positively. The trip allowed students to see how small gestures of kindness also help to treat patients.

“I think those students have gained valuable experience and attained a new insight for the differences in health-care issues in different parts of the globe,” Taha said.

The Jamaican trip is just one of the outreach activities for students in the CSUSB nursing department.  Taha plans one community outreach event every month during the academic year.

Some of the work being done includes a toy drive at Christmas for the local pediatric unit, as well as volunteering with local schools to educate students on how to maintain healthy hearts and bones.

The trip was a humbling experience for those involved helping to open the doors to more well-rounded nursing students at CSUSB.

“The fact that we were able to have a child smile or an older person feel worthy of a visit…made me come back to a simple world where kindness matters,” Taha said.