This story is featured in the Spring 2016 issue of Showcase: The Champions of Change Issue. »View the complete publication

Building latrines in an impoverished Honduran village may not sound like an inspiring educational activity for aspiring nurses, but it’s just the type of project students in the Community Based Nursing Practice course in the Trent/Fleming School of Nursing say impacted them the most.

"Community placements are one of the ways we are developing nursing practitioners who can be leaders in social change," says Dr. Kirsten Woodend, dean of Trent/Fleming School of Nursing (TFSON). "Being involved in the community and identifying those intersections where there are health issues, such as sanitation or water supplies, is a nursing role. And while building latrines isn't directly about nursing, this kind of engagement in the community helps our students understand about the connection to human health."

Doing amazing things that move the community forward

All second-year student nurses are required to complete a community health project, which could involve any number of activities related to local health issues, from helping to establish a warming room to working with an Alzheimer's group. "Our students go out there and do absolutely amazing things that move our community forward," Dr. Woodend says, explaining that students identify a health problem, such as nutrition or breast cancer, and then develop community projects to address the issue.

Most of the activities take place in and around Peterborough, but each fall, a number of students have the opportunity to travel to Honduras to work on a community development project. Twenty nursing students went down this year accompanied by TFSON Professor Patti Tracey.

Delivering essential healthcare in Honduras

The group worked at a children’s home outside of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, and also taught at a school for girls who have dropped out of school to work or look after their families. "One of the things that we know, is that if we can educate women in poor countries, then that can make a big difference for those societies in terms of moving them forward," Dr. Woodend says.

In the winter term, another group of nursing students will travel with Prof. Tracey to Honduras to join a medical brigade. This unique community health placement program is run in partnership with Friends of Honduran Children, a Peterborough-based not-for-profit. The students will work with a multi-disciplinary team of professionals which include physicians and nurses, providing essential health care to a village in a remote area of Honduras.

“During my community placement in Honduras, we were responsible for teaching CPR, first aid, and choking lessons. It was a really amazing opportunity,” said Kelechi Osahor, a recent graduate of the program. “Traveling to Honduras was such an eye-opening experience, it’s the kind of work that I want to eventually be doing in nursing. The trip also inspired me to get more involved at Trent once we returned home.”