Today was our last day at the clinics in Belize! The villages we visited today were Blue Creek, San Benito Poite, Aguacate, and Crique Jute. We have many mixed emotions about this being our last day. We were touched by so many of the patients we saw and we will miss seeing their smiling, appreciative faces. We will also miss the fellow physicians, support staff, medical students, and nurses from Project Belize who supported and taught us along the way.

Spreading knowledge to the health workers of one of the villages regarding medications

Some big takeaways from our visit after listening to the leaders speak at our banquet tonight is the little things we do can make just as big of an impact as the medical supplies we provide. Something as simple as “sun shades” can make a huge impact on the lives of the people here. We also appreciated when we had down time during our clinics because it allowed us to really interact with the people and learn even more about them. We are also beginning to realize that Belize has given just as much to us as we have brought to them. I think we all agree that our future practices will be changed because of this experience.

We love “sun shades”

Another awesome part of this trip was being able to work with Dr. Tom, our dentist, at some of the clinical sites. We realized the dental care provided here is much different then what is provided back home. When a tooth is infected or decaying in the states they do everything they can to save the tooth. Here, if the tooth is slightly infected it is pulled by the dentist because there is not a clinic close enough to treat the infection if it spreads or worsens. For this reason, extracting the tooth is more reasonable for the overall health of each individual. (Even some of our fellow nursing students got to help pull some teeth… I think they will stick to nursing)

Andrew pulling a tooth

As we move on to the more cultural aspects of our trip it is really nice to be able to turn back to our clinical experiences and realize how much we have grown in our prospectives of ourselves and others. With every clinical day we completed it further sank in just how fortunate we are to have the health care we do back home. Illnesses like chicken pox, fungal infections and cuts/sores are almost seen as a “simple” fix back home, but this experience made us realize if we don’t treat and pay attention to these things they can become a real problem. We are truly grateful for everything we have learned so far and are very excited to continue to grow in our prospectives of the Guatemalan and Belizean cultures.

The chicken pox can’t keep her down.. all smiles here in Belize 🙂

-Mariah and Andrew

Another early morning today as we left at 6 am for a long clinic day. We are on clinic day 3 of 4 and have seen a total of 12 villages so far! Today we visited the villages of San Lucas, San Felipe, San Vicente, and Jalacete.

All of us students are growing in confidence in our assessment and nursing skills with each village we see. We have appreciated the help of the Project Belize team along the way and all the knowledge they have given us. Each day we have gotten to work with one of the four physicians. All if the providers and nurses who are apart of Project Belize have played a big role in our development as future nurses.

Throughout the clinics we have had the chance to learn more about the Belizian culture. For each village we go to, local translators join us to help us provide care to the villagers who can’t speak English. The more we work with these translators, the more we get to understand the belizian people and their lifestyle. We were also given the chance to try shoots today! Shoots are tortillas filled with either cabbage or beans, wrapped in a banana leaf, and steamed. They were delicious and we appreciated the opportunity to taste them!

Tomorrow is our last clinic day with Project Belize. As the end of our time in the villages draws near we feel bitter sweet because while our energy may be low we will deeply miss the time we have spent with these villages and the people in them.

Miss you all!

– Maddy E and Holly

Today was the second clinic day! We had four different groups go to the villages of Corazón, Sunday Wood, Graham Creek, and Crique Sarco. Our teams helped many individuals with ear infections, headaches and back aches, broken bones, fungal and bacterial skin infections, and pneumonia–including one older woman whose condition was so poor the provider estimated she would not have lived another 24 hours without receiving treatment.

Our teams are made up of student nurses, RNs, nurse practitioners, and physicians as well as many individuals with different backgrounds that help out in other ways, but a huge part of our team are the interpreters. Along with the huge benefits the interpreters bring to our clinics, a fun aspect we enjoy is getting to know them and their culture. We learned that even in small rural towns in a third world country like Belize, they still have a similar educational structure to the U. S. education system. We bonded with an 18 year old interpreter named Ephany over what we have learned in Chemistry, Anatomy, and Math classes in high school. She also thought it was really funny we didn’t know pineapples grow on bushes! Learning from the interpreters about their culture has been a great experience for us students, and, without them, we would not be able to treat anywhere close to the same amount of people that we do without their assistance as they are a key part of our team.

Another huge part of this trip has been advancing not only our assessment skills but also our teaching abilities. We noticed early on in the clinics that nearly every individual needing daily vitamins may not even know how to open the childproof packages. We have realized how necessary it is to bring ourselves back to the basics and break down instructions into simple steps. Some things that are simple to us such as opening pill bottles can be a difficult thing for those here, whereas issues Americans find difficult, the Belizians can solve relatively simply. A humbling example of this was witnessing a mother in one of the villages who figured out solutions to care for her child with cerebral palsy who was sent home to likely die from the hospital when he was born.

The group is feeling very humbled and proud from today’s experiences, and we will carry this momentum into the next two days of our clinics.

~Emily & Sonja

Today we kicked off what we came here to do: clinics!! Our group was split and traveled to 4 different villages with Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Nurses, Dentist; and support. All vans traveled 2 hours down bumpy (to put it lightly) roads, to villages where the patients were awaiting our arrival. Some villages were miles of extra hiking with supplies, so kudos to all who make the trek to the furthest village and back by nightfall.

Hundreds of patients and families were seen today alone. The flow of the “clinic” is critical, as we set up in whatever space we are given. Intake, nursing assessment stations, and pharmacy are assembled and families are seen all at one time, where we assessed each of their specific complaints.

We finally got to practice what has been drilled into our brain since beginning nursing school: SBAR! Situation, background, assessment, recommendation. This form of communication between a nurse and clinician is critical to maximize efficiency and quality of care, and was exciting to work so closely with other healthcare professionals.

The most eye-opening realization is that these people have little to no form of healthcare. Even the villages that are closest to Punta Gorda are hours away by motor vehicle, so primary and follow-up care is almost non-existent. Many antibiotics, pain medications, fluoride treatments, ointments, and vitamins were dispensed to alleviate as many symptoms from which these hard-working people suffer.

Some of the best parts of today were hearing the people cheer when we arrived to the village and how thankful they were when they got the medicine and supplies they need! Some of the kids showed their appreciation through hugs, high fives, and blowing kisses- it was adorable.

From stomach pain, respiratory issues, tooth aches, worms, and lice- to sex education (demonstrations with a flash light and condom) and fluoride treatments, we were able to treat a variety of conditions.

Also, big shout out to our interpreters today- most of the villages spoke “keechi” or Spanish. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to give the village care they deserve.

Today was so fun and so rewarding we cannot wait until tomorrow!!

Best,

Ashley R. & Beth

Today we got to experience Blue Creek and it was such an adventure! We swam in their “pools”, hiked and even explored a cave! It was so beautiful, with the clear and blue/green water. We saw fish swimming around us, spiders the size of our hand, bats, giant wasps, and butterfly’s. We even got to jump off rocks into the water.

Some of us stayed near the water and relaxed while others went on a hike up a steep mountain behind Blue Creek. On top of hiking up the 60° incline of tough terrain, they had to avoid touching “bastard trees” and poisonous plants with black tar-like spots on them. They said that once they got to the top, it was worth the struggle. Some even hummed “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus to keep them going. To get back down, they had to climb down reversely, some even accidentally sliding down the mountain.

After spending a nice day in the water, we got to explore a wet cave, so cool! The cave was very dark so those who went through it had to wear lights. We had to swim in deep areas, climb through crevices, and avoid rocks. There was a section at the end of the cave that had a waterfall where we were allowed to swim through as well! The total trip into and out of the cave took us about an hour and 45 minutes. Our tour guide was also such an incredible and very nice gentleman who made sure we were all okay and educated us on some of the history behind the caves origin. Not only did he do two cave tours, he did the hike (in slip on sandals) earlier with another half of our group, talk about a rockstar! Definitely something we will always remember.

Along the trail on the way to the creek, we saw leaf cutter ants and a “bastard tree”. It’s called this because it has spikes on it and if you touch it, it is very painful! There were also ladies who lined up on the trail to sell things. It could be considered the locals “mall” area where they sold handmade bracelets, bowls, embroidery, etc. They use this money to pay for their children’s education. And after a long day at the lagoon we were able to walk back to a shack and enjoy some refreshments!

Warmly,

Larissa and Lakin

Today was our first full day in Belize! After waking up at 6 A.M and driving 40 minutes on the rough Belizean roads we made it to the Laugh Out Loud Children’s Home (L.O.L). We were greeted by many smiling children waving and giggling as they watched us start our tour. After our tour we began the health assessment process for all of the children and staff at L.O.L. The process started with height and weight, then a hearing test, vitals, vision test and a head to toe assessment. After being signed off by one of the nurse practitioners, children were sent to be dewormed (we think they would say it was all worth it after the prize at the end). We were also able to provide the orphanage with supplies like clothing, a scale, medications, flip flops, toys such as frisbees, and more. Once every child had been assessed, we then assessed and treated the staff members working at the orphanage. The staff were very appreciative of our time spent with them because all the children are required to be assessed once a year by the Belize government in order to remain open and continue providing homes for children. Without groups such as ours this process of receiving assessments through a Belize clinical could take up to a week for all 37 children due to the five hour drive each way to Belize City. Instead of this week endeavor we were able to assess all 37 children and all the staff in about 4 hours.

Following our visit to the orphanage, we ate lunch at Grace’s restaurant and headed out to Rio Blanco for swimming and cliff jumping. We haven’t quite adjusted to the heat and humidity here in Belize, so we were all very happy to cool down in the water after our day at the clinic. We are all very excited to explore more of Belize tomorrow in the wet and dry caves. More updates to come!

Here are some pictures from our fun filled day 😊

-Mariah, Madi, Holly and Andrew

We have safely (and sweatily) arrived! After 3 airports, 4 1/2 hours in a van, and hauling around 15 trunks of supplies, we are happy to be here! Our team started the day arriving at Hector Airport at 4 a.m., landed in Belize City around 2 p.m., and then finally arrived in Punta Gorda at 7:30 p.m.

The staff at the Sea Front Inn are very kind, helpful, and were generous enough to cook us a meal upon our arrival! The sun sets shortly after 6 p.m. here, but we are excited to see the full beauty of the ocean out our window in the morning! For now, we’ll settle on hearing the waves crashing in. On our drive to Punta Gorda, we all noticed pretty quickly that the speed limit is not enforced and some common sights on our drive included: goats, banana trees, and plenty of speed bumps!

This evening, we met up with the rest of the Project Belize team from Texas – together we are a group of about 60!! We discussed what clinics will look like and how we will visit 16 different villages. Tomorrow, our NDSU team is headed out to an orphanage in the morning. On a serious note, we talked about how the humidity will effect our bodies and our need to stay hydrated. Luckily, we have an awesome team who will remind each other to keep drinkin!!

Well, it’s bedtime for us after a long day of travel! Time to rest up for our first full day in Belize!

Warmly,

Britta & Emily

Our evening meal at the Sea Front Inn!

At Hector Airport checking in!

All our bags arrived and we are getting settled in.

Tomorrow is the day! This afternoon, we had our packing party where we finalized the packing of our supplies, sprayed our clothes with permethrin (a bug repellent), and had our final team debrief in preparation for our 16-day adventure. Reality has set in as we have come together as a team and discussed details of our first few days abroad. Our hard work has paid off, and we are so ready to serve the Mayan people.

The next few days will be a whirlwind as we adjust to our new schedule, diet, and climate, but we’ll keep you updated every step of the way. Tomorrow, we’ll travel to our destination via plane and bus; Monday we hit the ground running by providing nursing care to children in a Belizean orphanage. The final pieces are coming together, and we can hardly stand the anticipation!

Off to bed we go, as we are due at the airport at 4 am! Stay tuned!

NDSU Nursing Belize Crew

We’re getting so close to our departure, we can’t Belize it! In 9 days, we will board a plane to provide nursing care to the people of Belize. None of this would be possible without your help! Due to the generosity of our friends, family, and community, we have raised over $3500! These donations have provided the funds to purchase even more supplies for our trip.

To name a few….

Over 100,000 adult and children’s vitamins, over 12,000 tablets of acetaminophen and Ibuprofen, other medications, flip flops, glasses, first aid kits, and supplies for 2 orphanages. Thank You!

It’s not too late! If you’d still like to donate, you can visit https://www.gofundme.com/ndsu-nursing-belize-2019

Hi everyone!

In less than 2 weeks we will be in Belize! Tonight we are hosting our final fundraiser, Brews for Belize, and we would love for you to stop by.

Fargo Brewing Company will be donating $1 from each pint sold from 4-10pm on Monday, May 6th. Stop by and enjoy a fresh, cold beer and donate to a great cause! The money raised from this event will go towards purchasing the medical supplies we will be bringing with us to the clinics. We hope to see you there!

Fargo Brewing Company: 610 University Drive North, Fargo, ND

Can’t make it but you would still like to donate? Check out our GoFundMe page at: https://www.gofundme.com/ndsu-nursing-belize-2019

Thank you for all of your support!