Medical Missions Help Others And Encourage Selfless Attitude School of Nursing _ ursing has always been known as a "helping profession, " but Harding took tha t concept a step beyond wha t was expected . Students w ere taught to care for the spiritua l needs or patients, not just the physica l needs. The Scl1oo l of Nursing slogan. "Go ye into a ll the world, " encouraged fac ulty and students to live up to the charge. During spring and summer breaks , the School of Nursing organized campa igns to Ha iti and East and West Africa . Thirtytwo s tudents and fac ulty members partic ipated . wh ile others joined campa ign teams going to Russia , the Ukraine and Venezuela on non-med ica l missions trips . Non-nursing majors were welcome to join the spring break campa igns; they served by counting pills, holding flashligh ts , and especially by conduc ting personal stud ies with patien ts . "It was scary b cause tl1ere·s so much disease. But it was total ly worth it. we encouraged the missionaries, and I felt like I learned from them. too. I've never pictured myself as a miss ionary, but now I am open to doing mission work in the future," senior e lementary educa tion major Lisa Livingston. who w ent to Haiti during spring break, said. Nursing students d id not have to go half-way around the world to be trained in a Third World setting, hmvt>ver . Hea lth Care Missions w as offered in conjunc tion with tl w Co llege o f B ib.le and Re ligion , teacl1 ing c ross-c ultural communica tion , adaptati on and basic medica l skills needed for survival in the Third World . The School of Nursing adopted a p lan to offer an intersess ion c lass at He ifer Project Interna tional. a simulated Third World village encampment in Perryville. Ark. Students who enroll will experience intensive gardening, small animal husbandry . sanitation tra ining and w a ter purification. They will also live in African , Asian and Appalachian s ty le housing, and "practi ce" living in Third World conditio ns . "The emphasis will be on learning how to a ttack the root causes of hea lth problems and fo rming long-term solutions," Jerry Myhan, health ca re missions coord ina tor for th School of Nursing, said. Myhan sa id that the advantage of an interna tiona lly oriented educa tion is "exposure to cross-cu ltural situations and seeing health ca re spread the gospel. " Evidence of hea lth ca r ·s role in spreading the gospel w as seen by sen ior Susan Swearingen in Tanzan ia, East Africa. during the I 994 summer campa ign. Swearingen spent a Monday a fternoon teaching basic nutrition and rehydration therapy to the family of Wi lliam, an A IDS patient. Although scheduled for a second vis it on Friday, Susan and her partner decided to re turn early. on Wednesday, because of his de teriorating condit ion . They had the joy of sharing the gospel with William , and he was baptized that day. On Thursday. he died . "What wou ld have happened if w e had not been there?" Swearingen said. Similar sentiments were shared by a ll of the nursing students who partic ipated , as the ir hearts and the ir hands worked to provide the healing process for bodies and spirits all over the world. - Jessica Seltzer Uso Ut iings10n 110/cls o chi/cl w 1/w ,\fwmu ll llt'rllClliOllOl fwrn in I /Oiti. l\ 'llrSillf) Clllli llOll-lllll"Sillfj s1ucle111s use(f 1/1i'ir skills i111nissionury sil<'S ull ot ier 1/w worl<I. /'/1010 l!y Liso Teuo1w /Jenise 510111 cmplwsizes 1/ w i111ponw1n· of urnlerswncfino o pOlienr:s necrl . Nursin~; 1coclwrs were us profr·ssiono/ in cluss as 1/wy woulcl IJ<' in u l1ospi1C1I. Pll010 l;y Jumcs /\lien . School of Nursino 29 A c Cl ct e Ill i c s
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