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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 2003)
Page B6 ®I|e ‘P ortland (©beeruer lanuary 29,2003 IQ Immersed in Mexico’s Health Care OHSU nursing students gain cultural skills with life experience John Jessup, nursing instructor in the com m unity health program at O regon H ealth S ciences U n iv er sity, noticed his students w ere p ri m arily A nglo, w hile 10 percent o f the O regon population is H ispanic. M eanw hile, scarcely o n e-h alf o f 1 percent o f O reg o n ’s nurses p er sonally reflect this H ispanic h eri tage, a critical problem o f the n u rs ing shortage. So Jessup determ ined to prepare students to w ork w ith L atino clients and p atients m ore effectively. E ven if students w ere not H is panic, they could certainly be cu l turally com petent. In 1997 he began escorting ten O H SU u n dergradu ate o r four graduate nursing stu dents at a tim e to La Paz, B aja C ali fornia Sur, M exico. There, the stu dents are quickly im m ersed in a one-m onth total experience. La Paz, which means ‘The Peace, ’ is a G u lf C oast city o f m ore than 2 0 0 ,0 0 0 p eo p le w ith sp ark lin g beaches and w arm blue skies. But O H SU students seldom see this side o f the city. T hey im m ediately begin w ork w ithin the M exican m edical system , acquire Spanish language sk ills, in v estig ate the Colleen Casey (center), a senior nursing student at Oregon Health Sciences University is pictured with her host family in Mexico. national health structure and live w ith local fam ilies. C olleen C asey , a senior graduat ing this June, lived with a fam ily o f seven in a tw o-bedroom house o f cinder block w alls and a corrugated metal roof. She loved every minute. C hickens clucked throughout the house and roosters woke her every morning. Her host family lacked hot w ater, and C asey shared a room with tw o teenage girls. "I adored my fam ily and becam e part o f it," she said. “T h e y 're very Jessup said, explaining that stu tight-knit. O ne o f the daughters is dents leave host fam ilies at 7 in the a nursing student and the oldest m orning only to return at 8:30 or son plays in a local band. E ssen 9:00p.m . each night. “Students learn tially, h e ’s the fam ily breadw inner. what it’s like to be a m inority w ithin W e all pitched in. If the gas tank for the m ajority M exican culture. They the stove needed changing, ev ery take public transportation, live in one got up early to go get it filled. the barrio (ghetto), and often have W hen the m other sold tam ales d u r running w ater only a couple hours ing a national holiday parade, we each day.” w oke up at 5 a.m . to help her put The students begin each m orn them together.” ing w ith four o r five hours in vari “T h e m o n th is so in te n se ,” ous clinical sites— hospital w ards, barrio clinics, a R ed C ross urgency clinic o r rural m obile clinics. T hey offer im m unizations, dental help, or h ealth ed u catio n on prev en tiv e care, such as lactation or diabetes — all in Spanish. Follow ed by a 1 1/ 2-hour class on com m unity and cultural health issues w ith Jessup, students spend the last four hours o f the day w ith a Spanish tutor. If the schedule isn ’t daunting enough, the hom ew ork certainly is. Jessup requires 20 new vocabulary w ords each day and a Spanish oral exam com plete w ith clinical sce narios. S tudents also develop a friendship w ith a M exican peer, conduct a com plete assessm ent o f both a local fam ily and a health facility, w rite a hypothetical co m m unity health grant and, finally, assess, analyze and present the entire infrastructure o f L a Paz — including health, public safety, eco nom ic, transportation and educa tional system s. C asey m uses about both the in tensity and w onder o f the experi ence. “W e w ere em braced as nurses," C asey said, explaining she and her colleagues w ore w hite from head to toe each day. as do all M exican nurses. “W e becam e invested in the com m unity in a way only those w ho live there can." N ow w hen she helps patients in O regon, she has a com pletely new perspective. "I try to m eet th em w h ere they are. I t ’s m o re than b eing ab le to sp eak S p a n ish o r h a v in g a c o n v e r s a tio n a b o u t th e i r h e a lth n eed s in th e ir n ativ e to n g u e. It tra n sc e n d s th at. I am b e g in n in g to u n d e rs ta n d w here th ey co m e fro m , w h at th e ir h ealth sy stem w as like, and w hat their lives are,” she said. “ F ro m now on. I ’m open to e x p a n d in g m y ho rizo n s to co n - . sid erin g h e a lth and illn ess c o m p le te ly o u t o f the box. T h e re ’s n o . d o u b t ab o u t it. I ’m ju s t g o in g to > be a b e tte r n u rs e .” Jessup is aw ed by students w ho com plete the im m ersion. R elativ es M o u rn M ex ico Q u ak e V ictim s (A P ) — S o ld iers an d sailo rs fan n ed o u t to h e lp re s id e n ts and Rescue su rv e y th e d am ag e in C o lim a, teams search M ex ico a fte r a Jan. 21 earth q u ak e through the k ille d 28 p eo p le and left ab o u t rubble in 10,000 h o m eless. Colima, M an y su rv iv o rs w ere cro w d ed Mexico after in sh e lte rs o r b e g in n in g to clean a 7.8- ru b b le from th eir sh attered hom es magnitude in C o lim a state, 30 0 m iles w est o f earthquake. M ex ico C ity. (AP photo) P eo p le w an d ered , d a z e d and aw ed by th e d am ag e , p ast the ro p e d -o ff stre e ts an d sh o p s o f B U SIN E SS d ir e c to r y Madam Marion Pei Owner _ MADAM’S Nail <x 1-oot Specialist 1 love to do Feet! Avon Representative WW.J.D. th e h a rd -h it city o f T e c o m a n , w h ere an estim a te d 30 p e rc e n t o f h o m e s w e re d a m a g e d o r d e stro y ed . S h o p k eep ers in T e c o m a n b e g an sw eep in g up sh a tte re d g lass fro m sto re fro n ts in w h at h ad b e co m e a g h o stly d o w n to w n , as M ex ican n avy sa ilo rs w o rk ed to c le a r c h u n k s o f c o n c re te that had tu m b le d in to th e s tre e t fro m n earb y b u ild in g s. In C o lim a, the state c a p ita l. V icente R o driguez sat several feet fro m his m o th e r’s flo w e r-la d e n c o ffin , h ard ly seein g re sid e n ts scu rry p ast w earin g d u st m ask s. “ I did w h at I c o u ld to sav e h e r but it w as u se le ss,” he said as frie n d s an d re la tiv e s e m b raced him and p aid th e ir re sp e c ts at an o u td o o r m em orial fo r8 3 -y ear-o ld M aria R o d rig u e z M acia. R o d r ig u e z , 5 3 , w a s a t a n eig h b o r's hom e T uesday night when the 7.8-m agnitude earthquake struck, shaking the w alls, cutting pow er and causing the earth to Ph (501) 288-105) madamsalon@yahoo.com ripple like w ater beneath him . L ik e th o u sa n d s o f o th e rs, he ran o u ts id e , stu m b lin g sev eral b lo ck s d o w n th e d a rk en ed streets to fin d b o th h is m o th e r and siste r trap p ed b en eath a m o u n tain o f e arth , m etal and sto n e th a t had been th e ir h u m b le ad o b e house. P re s id e n t V icen te Fox to u red d ev astated n eig h b o rh o o d s, pro m ising to h e lp reb u ild the h o u ses from n ew er, stro n g e r m a te ria ls th at w o u ld w ith sta n d the fo rce o f fu tu re q u ak es. M R A « U T T < FflIUR, D C. 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