Submitted by Robin Norko on the 2018 summer session program in Peru sponsored by the School of Nursing…
This week, I arrived in Peru. We are staying in Huaran and it is the most beautiful place I have ever been by far. I had quite a few apprehensions before coming, mostly involving the language barrier. I don’t speak very much Spanish so I was really worried about that, but so far it hasn’t been too much of an issue and we’ve been lucky enough to have awesome translators with us whenever we need to communicate with local people.
Monday and Friday of this week we worked in a local hospital. I split most of my time between pediatrics and the emergency room. Being in the hospital and seeing the way that things are run here was a huge shock to me. There were so many times that I was taken by surprise watching the way that the nurses and doctors treated the patients. Some of the girls on my program helped treat a man that came into the ER with his toe cut off from an accident at work. While operating on him, there were multiple times when needles were placed on unsterile surfaces and then used. Stray dogs walked in and out of the hospital whose doors were open all day long. The man also was not given any pain medication while his wounds were cleaned with saline and alcohol. In the emergency rooms in the United States that I have shadowed in, safe sterile practice and patient consideration are two of the most important factors. To see these patients in so much pain and being treated unsafely was shocking for me and opened my eyes to the reality that these people live.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week we traveled to communities and schools to teach students about many different health topics. On Tuesday, we worked with young elementary/intermediate school students. We taught mostly about hygiene and healthy habits, but we also were asked to focus on violence. It hit me very hard when the teacher told us about how many kids grow up in a violent household and grow to think that that is normal and okay. On Wednesday and Thursday, we taught older intermediate/high school students and focused more on violence and sexual education. When we were teaching about STIs, we asked if the students could name any infections that they’ve heard about. It was scary and shocking to see none of them raise their hands and it made me sad to think about how many of them could be infected and not even know it. To learn so much about these kids’ lives over the course of just one week has opened my eyes significantly to the way that people live so differently across cultures.
We also spent a lot of time this week exploring communities and hiking the mountains around us. It has been amazing to get to know the land and the people who inhabit it. I wake up every morning with a view of the mountains out of my window and I cannot even believe it’s real. Peru is such an amazing coun
try and I cannot wait for what is to come in the next two weeks.
