Our Quebec team had the opportunity to experience 10-days in San Jose de Ocoa (Dominican Republic) along with 8 NFSB students (5 students in Health, Assistance & Nursing / 3 students in Home Care Assistance), in addition 3 teachers from Georgian College came with us. Our students had the chance to apply for this experience and the 8 who took advantage of this opportunity committed to do their clinical placement in the Dominican.
The students worked very hard at fundraising from November to May (bake sales, bagging groceries at Super C, Pizza Hut dinner, spaghetti dinner and raffle sales).
Students and their families filled 12 hockey bags with clothes, school supplies, eyes glasses and hygiene products to give to the Dominican people.
Our key goals were for the students to develop and practice their physical assessment skills. It was also important for our students to learn about the culture and needs of the Dominican people.
We learned from and shared knowledge with the Georgian College team as well.
Some of our rewarding experiences were: working in clinics to practice physical assessments, home visits in low income villages, working in a nursing home, touring of their hospital, we also visited a rehab center, an addiction center, a diabetic clinic to name a few.
One of our highlights was giving out glasses, clothes, shoes, hygiene products, school supplies and simple medication.
We were welcomed warmly by the Dominican people. We had the opportunity to understand their living conditions and issues that impact daily life.
After 10 days of working, sharing our knowledge, making new friends and helping the Dominican people we packed up and said our good-byes.
From this fantastic experience, we all took home a bit of the Dominican in our hearts.
We wish to thank Rayjon, Georgian College and Sheila Wojicik for making our trip possible.
Team leaders May, 2017 : Danielle Boak, Beverly Tannahill, Lisa Dobson