Antigua High School SLT Handbook

“Back home, you don't really see all of the reality other people have to live in, so it's really eye-opening and I feel like that's the most important part. Living in the States, we kind of take healthcare for granted since it's really easy to access. But being here, I learned that in a really large area there's only one small clinic people can go to and they have to travel miles to get to — that really challenged my beliefs. During education I was sitting out in the sun and one of the patients moved the bench over so I could get under the shade. The part I enjoyed the most was interacting with everyone, especially the little kids. We get to take what we learned and pass it on to these people that don't have easy access to something we have so much access to back in the States.”

“I learned how to use a stethoscope. Before coming here, I thought it only measured your heartbeat, but it can actually listen to your heartbeat, the breath in your lungs, and the fluids in your gut. I learned that breathing issues are a lot more common than I thought, and that affects your health more greatly. One moment that pushed me out of my comfort zone was in pharmacy — I don't speak Spanish and the nurses didn't speak English, so we kind of had a language boundary. I didn't want to give the wrong medicine to the wrong people, but I was able to get through it using hand signals and figuring out some Spanish. The highlight of my trip was triage — getting the temperature, oxygen levels and blood pressure was really fun.”

“I think any nurse or medical professional should go through something like this. It's been a long day, but it's been a really good day. Thinking about what challenged me — these people can't have healthcare a lot of times, or maybe this is all they see. We take for granted what we have in the US, how we can get medicine and go to the doctor same day and heal quickly. It challenges you and makes you think of everything we have, and they're resourceful here even with what they do have. Being the nurse to these students and really getting to know them on a different level has meant the world to me. I would challenge all of our students to come and do a trip like this, to just see a different world and see how these people are living day to day.”

“Today we're helping the locals and making eco stoves. It's really important because traditionally they cook over an open fire, and when you inhale the smoke it can be really harmful for your lungs. The eco stoves keep the smoke enclosed and it exits via a pipe so they're not breathing in those fumes every day. I've enjoyed traveling both times; the last one was in Peru where we worked with greenhouses, and here we're working with stoves, so it's slightly different what the different populations need. The clinics have been generally the same, but some issues they face may be slightly different. The highlight of my trip so far has probably been hiking the volcano Pacaya — it was definitely challenging, but super rewarding at the end.”