Niagara University Nursing Students Have Life-Changing Experience in Guatemala

This October, 10 Niagara University nursing students accompanied Dr. Christine Verni, dean of the College of Nursing, and Kristina Sinsabaugh, faculty fellow, on a weeklong service trip to Guatemala, where they learned more about nursing in the rural communities there.

The trip was organized as part of Sinsabaugh's community and public health nursing course, and coordinated through Nursing Heart Inc., a nonprofit organization in Antigua, Guatemala, that builds partnerships to improve the health of underserved communities in that country.

Sinsabaugh explained that she offered the trip to her students, who would soon be entering the profession, because she wanted them to better understand the healthcare challenges in rural and indigenous areas of the developing world, including high poverty, malnutrition, and maternal-child mortality rates, and to compare them with what they may experience as nurses in the United States.

"I wanted them to see how the nurses were able to take care of patients with the very, very limited resources that they have," she said.

In the weeks leading to the trip, the students collected donations of toothbrushes, sports equipment, matchbox cares, coloring books, and stickers for the children they would care for while there. On Oct. 5, they left for Antigua, a small city in southern Guatemala, where they connected with Nursing Heart.

Throughout the week, the NU group visited remote communities that were far enough from the urban centers to make healthcare services difficult to access. Accompanied by volunteers from Nursing Heart, they visited families to take vital signs, measure blood pressure and glucose levels, and talk with them about what they found and what possible diet and lifestyle changes would help them feel better.

Among the places the group visited was Santiago Zamora, where they learned how a group of village women established a co-op called Ixoqi Samaj (Working Women) to sell traditional Guatemalan handicrafts. Proceeds from the sales are used to purchase book bags, books, writing equipment, paper, and other items to support education for the children of the village.

They also spent time at a school in a remote hamlet called Chidon Juan, where they met students, their parents and their teachers, and screened more than 100 children for high blood pressure, low oxygen levels, dental cavities, stunted height and weight, skin rashes and lesions, and diabetes.

In Pacoxpon, they toured a preschool and health clinics, and visited a community leader who was on a committee to spearhead local water projects, a critical need in an area where poor water has been identified as one of the most compelling health factors by Nursing Heart.

The group learned more about nurses midwives from members of an organization that advocates for their profession, including what inspired them to pursue midwifery, their first deliveries, and how they use primarily alcohol and scissors to assist with childbirth. The midwives are often compensated with a warm meal or a chicken because their patients don't have the means to pay with cash. The students, who had prepared questions in advance, learned about the role, the women, and the limitations of healthcare, as well as efforts to eliminate the profession in the country.

Damion Lattimer, a senior from Albion, N.Y., took the trip because he was looking forward to expanding his skills and learning more about the differences in healthcare between the U.S. and Guatemala. He came back with a better understanding of the core values of nursing.

"This mission trip is life changing," he said. "It isn't only beneficial for the peoples' lives you impact, but also for yours. A lot of people will never be given the experience to go somewhere and change kids' and adults' lives and also have their own life change through the process of providing care."

He was especially moved by the excitement shown by the children they cared for and noted that, because of this experience, his practice of nursing, which will begin on the cardiac/vascular unit at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y., "will be tailored more around empathy and giving time instead of just trying to 'get the job done.'"

Ariana Zapata, a Chicago native who will graduate in May 2025 with a dual degree in integrated business management and nursing and a minor in public health, considered the trip an opportunity to see what her future career in community health could look like, she said. It also held special significance for her as the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants. Her grandmother was one of the reasons she chose to pursue nursing, she said. "She taught me to use my hands to help others and shared the idea of love for all."

Zapata was especially impressed by the level of unity and support in the communities they visited, and the fact that often, payment for services was not required.

"The clinics we visited were run by dedicated individuals who sacrifice their life to help others in their community," she said. "Some traveled for hours to reach those in need of help with the limited supplies they have to offer. And it was common to see financial barriers taken away. Members of the community were eager to help each other and showed overflowing gratefulness.

"This experience gave me a gentleness I will use in my practice as a nurse and an insight to the world, especially the dark parts that many others don't see," she continued. "As a nurse, I will work with passion, appreciation, and an eagerness to lend my hands to those that need them."

Sinsabaugh, too, was impacted by the experience, which she said reminded her of why she went into nursing in the first place. A visit to a long-term care facility where more than 280 special needs residents, ranging in age from toddler to the elderly, were being cared for was especially touching, she said.

Despite their limited resources, "the people who worked there were so happy to be working, and they were so grateful for their jobs and excited to show all of us," Sinsabaugh said. "They were very proud of where they were, and the residents were just so well cared for and loved. And that was awesome to see."