One of our Kappa Eta members, Connie Sobon Sensor, who is also the elected Region 14 Coordinator for STTI, participated as a group leader in the inaugural service leadership trip to the Dominican Republic to set up health clinics for the medically underserved in the rural bateys outside of Santo Domingo.   Connie is a certified Transcultural Nurse who contributed her expertise in culture and health to the development of this project. 

The project began in 2007 as the vision of Dr. Eileen Specchio, of The College of Saint Elizabeth in Convent Station, NJ, who hoped to see groups of nurses go to the Dominican Republic for one week every month on a rotating basis to bring professional health care to the impoverished people of the bateys, which are the villages where the workers from the sugar cane plantations live.  Dr. Specchio realized that her vision was congruent with the mission of STTI: to improve the health of people worldwide. She brought her idea to the NJ Consortium of STTI Chapters, a networking group of the leaders of the thirteen chapters in NJ to enlist Consortium support.  The first trip was planned with the hard work and enthusiasm of 65 nurses from The College of St. Elizabeth and UMDNJ who participated in the project in August of 2007.  Each participant earned nursing contact hour credits for volunteering their time and meeting the objectives of the learning experience.  

The goal for the first trip was to assess the health needs of the people and to start a data base of aggregates of communities so that the nurses could track outcomes of the professional health care they provided.   The nurses introduced record keeping such as growth charts for height and weight for children, immunization records, and blood pressure and blood sugar monitoring diaries for adults. Over time, it is hoped that there will be statistical improvement in health based on the trends observed in these communities. 

The nurses and students partnered with the Foundation for Peace, an established group in the Dominican Republic, who are trusted by the people.  The Foundation has been in existence for many years, working “mano y mano” (hand in hand) with the people to build schools and improve living conditions, such as providing instruction on how to clean the potable water supply to the batey.   The Foundation for Peace lays the groundwork for the nurses to set up clinics in the local churches.  The Foundation provides safe housing for the nurses, and the ladies of the church cook three meals a day for the group. When the nurses arrive, every detail is pre-arranged, and the people are ready and willing to accept health care from the American nurses.

 Dominicans are a family-centered,  group- oriented culture, who prefer to be seen together rather than as individuals.  The nurses see 100 families of five to seven people at each church, each day they visit. The nurses divide into groups, to run several clinics a day, and make some home visits.

 The Dominicans also have a magico-religious health belief system where it is accepted that one’s health is the will of God and can be affected by evil spirits or spells.  The nurses were challenged to work within the cultural context of the people to provide health care that was acceptable and meaningful.  Language was another challenge, but the first group was fortunate to have 18 native speakers of Spanish or Creole among its participants. The churches also provided volunteer translators to assist the nurses.    

Each participant brought two suitcases filled with medical supplies, weighing 50 pounds each, to the Dominican Republic. Clothes and personal items were carried in a backpack. At the end of the trip, the nurses left the suitcases, the medical supplies, and their clothes for the people, and returned to the United States empty-handed.  More than anything else, the nurses were thanked for giving the people hope, that they were not forgotten, and that others cared about improving their health and living conditions.

Since this service leadership project began in August of 2007, there have been seven trips, involving more than 230 nurses who have served more than 20,000 people.  This project has evolved into a Region 14 project, and groups from Hunter College, CUNY, led by Dr. Joanna Hofmann have also participated. Region 14 hopes to see this project continue to grow with ongoing trips to the Dominican Republic. If you have an interest in participating in the Region 14 Dominican Service Leadership project you can find out more from the Foundation for Peace www.foundationforpeace.org, or from Dr. Eileen Specchio especchio@cse.edu, or Dr. Joanna Hofmann jfhof@aol.com.