college of nursing 189 It was always one thing to learn something in the classroom and quite another to experience it first hand. Students involved in one of Harding’s longstanding mission services, the Health Care Missions program, were able to go and serve both abroad and in the U.S. while practicing first hand the skills they attained at Harding. The idea for the Health Care Missions program started in 1975. The program’s first trip was to Nigeria, Africa, in the summer of 1977. The group went to provide a place for the African people in the area to come for medical attention, some walking fifty to one hundred miles to receive care. “[The purpose is] to fulfill the mission and example that Christ gave us — the commission to serve people that are hurting,” Associate Professor of Nursing Jerry Myhan said. “Our goal is to instill in students’ lives the vision of serving after they graduate, either in a foreign country or here in the United States.” A member on the Health Missions committee, Myhan stepped in to take the place of Janice Bingham, associate professor of nursing, as the Health Missions Coordinator while she was abroad at Harding University in Zambia (HIZ) in the fall 2008 semester. The program concentrated on areas around Africa but also took students to other places like Haiti, Guatemala and the West Indies. The domestic missions side was headed by Assistant Professor of Nursing Karen Kelley, who mainly worked with groups in Arkansas helping students serve locally so that they would feel equipped to help in the future no matter where they went. Senior Jessica Snell traveled to Tanzania, Africa, with the nursing department in June of 2008. She brought glowing reports back from her time abroad. “I absolutely loved the people I met and the experience I had, and I would do it again in a second,” Snell said. “It gave me practice in nursing skills that I will require on the job, a behindthe-scenes look at how to care for patients in a cost-effective manner and above all, a greater awareness of people’s spiritual and psychological needs in times of crisis and illness.” While in Tanzania, Snell experienced everything from pediatrics, labor and delivery and male surgical procedures to helping host a seminar on purity where female Harding students spoke to over 100 women there. “This trip was one of the best learning experiences I have had in health care,” she said. “This opportunity prepared me in several ways for my future career.” Many people in the U.S. needed care as well. To meet these needs, Kelley headed up the domestic side of the program at Harding. She was involved in sending groups to help at the Christian Health Ministry, a health clinic in Searcy that was operated by the Downtown church of Christ and River City Ministries in North Little Rock. “We need to serve wherever we can,” Kelley said. “There are people with deep needs right here in the states, too.” With such an enormous impact on students, teachers and those being cared for, everyone involved seemed to benefit from the program’s work. “It’s a win-win situation,” Dr. Cathie Shultz, dean of the College of Nursing, said. “We are here to provide both hands-on care as well as spiritual care.” Joseph Dickerson Across the Ocean Health care missions around the world
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