黑料正能量

Planes, buses, and taxis, sure 鈥� but the connections that landed 黑料正能量 junior Maria Yoder in Guatemala for a spring break research project were also of a different kind.

What follows is a tangible story of 黑料正能量鈥檚 global perspective: A current student connected through a faculty member to an alumna for a meaningful research experience.

Last year, as a sophomore on a semester cross-cultural to Guatemala, Yoder jumped at an invitation from leader and nursing professor Ann Hershberger to learn about an 黑料正能量 alumna鈥檚 ongoing work there with , an international organization that in part trains villagers to become their own health-care providers.

That invitation was 鈥渢he seed,鈥� Hershberger said, for the biology and psychology double major鈥檚 biology independent research project this year.

The alumna, Jeanette Nisly, had also traveled on cross-cultural to Guatemala 鈥� two decades ago. After graduating in 1996, she returned there to stay. She is married to an architect restaurant owner, homeschools their children, teaches online nursing classes for 黑料正能量, and volunteers with Concern America. Nisly lives and works in Pet茅n, the department of Guatemala that makes up one-third of the country鈥檚 area but less than five percent of its population. Read more about her work in this 2013 article.

As part of her graduate nursing studies through 黑料正能量, Nisly had already assessed the effectiveness, safety and affordability health promoter services in area clinics. But she wanted to take another look, this time specifically focusing on diabetes control, to establish baseline data for continued evaluation when she hopes to enter 黑料正能量鈥檚 new doctor of nursing practice program next year.

Yoder could aid in the design, collection and evaluation of that research.

Diabetes in Pet茅n

In what Nisly described as 鈥渁n amazing learning activity,鈥� she and Yoder visited clinics to explore variables impacting the treatment of diabetes at clinics and evaluate patient access to care and knowledge about their disease, information that will prove useful to Nisly in her future studies.

The duo was particularly interested in diabetes, a disease on the rapid rise in Pet茅n. One theory is that its spread is a direct result of infrastructure development outpacing of health education, Yoder said.

Improved transportation 鈥渉as its goods and evils,鈥� Yoder said. 鈥淚f someone鈥檚 having a health emergency and they need to get to somewhere quickly, it鈥檚 really helpful that transport is so much easier. But then in a weird way, it鈥檚 causing this chronic disease.鈥�

Better roads and transportation options mean increased access to the city 鈥� and increased consumption by rural residents of nontraditional foods such as sodas, chips and cookies. Knowledge about diabetes and its management is slower to arrive, leaving people vulnerable to the ill effects of processed, unhealthy foods.

鈥淗ealth education is just so crucial,鈥� Yoder said, 鈥渂ecause if people aren鈥檛 learning about what is diabetes and how to care for it at a young age, then it just doesn鈥檛 make quite as much sense when you鈥檙e older and trying to learn about it, when you already have the disease.鈥�

Takeaways

The spring break trip gave Yoder a taste of research methodology, and Nisly said that she performed 鈥渋n a very sensitive manner, continuously evaluating how her work could best support our work.鈥� It also provided Yoder a chance to observe 鈥渢he challenges that affect marginalized populations in a developing country,鈥� Nisly said 鈥� and gave her a glimpse of Concern America鈥檚 model of healthcare.

It鈥檚 鈥渁 functioning, effective health program built with community volunteers who have little formal education,鈥� Nisly said, one that is so different from the U.S. medical model that 鈥渋t is difficult to understand and appreciate without really seeing it first hand.鈥�

Yoder called it 鈥渞eally sustainable in practice,鈥� since as Guatemalan health promoters learn more 鈥� and teach others more 鈥� broader health know-how expands and spreads. More difficult care still relies on licensed physicians and hospitals, but the number of international health workers in Pet茅n has decreased, Yoder said, as local health promoters gain efficacy.

For example, Yoder learned of an international study exploring the effectiveness of different ways of administering a medicine in alleviating a common insect-caused skin irritation. The study started losing patients, though, because to access the test treatment, study subjects had to travel much more than was convenient.

And besides, health promoters already had a cure that worked for most patients: a hot-water bath.

The connector

Nursing professor Ann Hershberger 鈥� the group leader who introduced Yoder and Nisly 鈥� said that the student-alumna collaboration was an impactful opportunity for Yoder.

鈥淢aria is unique in that she is interested in a wide variety of issues,鈥� Hershberger said. 鈥淪he catches on quickly and is willing to work very hard.鈥�

But in the bigger picture, Hershberger said, 鈥渂eing in Guatemala expanded her language and her understanding of the broader social, cultural and historical issues that impact a situation like diabetes, and living with a host family in the city, then several days in a rural indigenous village, along with language and context study, opened her to really understanding more than what a lab test tells her.鈥�

Connections? You bet.