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NARRATOR: Nursing school doesn't often
sink with incredible study abroad opportunities,
unless they're UVA
PROFESSOR EMMA MITCHELL: I think that when
you look at global opportunities for nursing students
across the US, they are all guided
by the best of intentions.
But not all of them guided by a vision that really emphasizes
sustained cultural engagement.
For too long, we've had a history
on a national scale of offering students experiences
where they, we call it, parachute into a community,
provide services that they are adept at providing
in their usual clinical training environments, and then leave.
NARRATOR: UVA offers two opportunities
for undergrad and grad nursing students
to Nicaragua, one as part of a J term course
and the other as part of their community health
clinical rotation.
But no matter when they go, students conduct in-depth study
on everything from domestic violence
to homeopathy to youth violence prevention.
Others work with [INAUDIBLE] own scholarship, focused
on novel methods of preventing, detecting, and treating
cervical cancer, a disease of disparity that's
a scourge in many developing nations, Nicaragua included.
PROFESSOR EMMA MITCHELL: We have strategically
selected specific sites where we have
a long history, a long term history of research and faculty
scholarship, and so through those
are able to anchor student experiences in really getting
an appreciation for the complex nature of global health.
UVA has had a long term relationship
with the Bluefields Indian and Caribbean University, which
is located in Bluefields, which is a coastal city in Nicaragua.
We offer our students two particular opportunities
to engage in Bluefields, Nicaragua.
One is our January Term course, and then
the other opportunity within the School of Nursing that we offer
is for our third year nursing students who
are in their community public health
clinical rotation to have a clinical experience focused
on really understanding nursing, how
nurses are trained in Nicaragua, what public health issues are
that nursing students identify there.
And really how to engage respectfully and bilaterally
with those groups.
This year did something different as well where we
had our students in the same clinical rotation
have community site here at Charlottesville as well as
the experience in Blue Fields.
And so that gave them a rich ability
to understand more about our home community,
but also really dig into some of the complex global health
issues experienced by people in Blue Fields, Nicaragua.
ANNIKA RHINEHART: You know, I think
it's an incredible experience to go abroad.
It doesn't matter where really.
But I think it was a unique experience to go to Blue Fields
and really see how the sense of community was different
and how a lot of the health problems
and difficulties that people face
are very similar to in the United States.
And I think that's important to get
exposed to is the similarities and differences and kind
of the challenges that they face,
what kind of interventions they have in their country
and in their community that we can take back and learn from
and kind of implement here.
And then also kind of that relationship
where we can give them something,
they can teach us a lot as well.
So I think this is a really incredible, unique experience.
And I totally recommend it to anyone who is considering.
NARRATOR: And thanks to the Jefferson Trust Award Grant
more students will be able to go.
PROFESSOR EMMA MITCHELL: We're really excited that we now
have the support of the Jefferson Trust Grant, which
is to allow us future to really hone in
on this concept of community resilience.
NARRATOR: It's just another way that UVA
is enriching students' experiences and their appetite
for global engagement.
FOOD PRESENTER: We have, are you guys ready for this?
We have shrimp and coconut rice.
These are fajitas, and these are fajitas,
and we have the pico de gallo [INAUDIBLE] and salad.
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