Twins Rosalba and Marisol Neri-Baxcajay don鈥檛 only share a genome, they also share a passion for public health. The two sisters are recent graduates of USF鈥檚 nursing program who traveled to Barranquilla, Colombia this past spring to participate in a 10-day clinical program with USF鈥檚 partner of more than 30 years, Universidad del Norte (read more about this longstanding partnership between the two universities).
All nursing students must complete clinical rotations as part of their training. In their last semester, they complete their public health clinical rotation where options usually include working in local schools or health centers around the Tampa Bay area, but at USF students can also apply to be selected to do a global public health clinical rotation in Barranquilla, Colombia. Marisol and Rosalba applied and were chosen along with 17 other students from USF to travel to the South American country this past March where they joined up with nursing students from Universidad del Norte (UniNorte) and performed community health assessments at various sites around the city. They were accompanied by their professors, Dr. Ivonne Hernandez, Director Community-Based Learning & Civic Engagement, and Dr. Elizabeth Jordan, Senior Associate Dean of Student Success.
鈥淭he partnership between USF and UNINORTE Nursing continues to grow stronger,鈥� said
Dr Hernandez. 鈥淥ur students meet virtually with UNINORTE students and faculty before
traveling to support engagement and learn about US and Colombian healthcare systems.
They work together in Barranquilla to identify and assess common health issues in
the regional context while delivering health education and nursing interventions.鈥�
I think it鈥檚 important to see not only the similarities and differences but also learn about the social determinants of healthcare and what kind of disparities exist that might be impacting people鈥檚 health.
For Rosalba and Marisol, it was their first overseas trip. 鈥淲hen we heard about the opportunity to do our public health clinical abroad, we were so excited to be able to travel while being in nursing school at the same time,鈥� said Marisol, who has a double major in health sciences. Rosalba鈥檚 other major is in public health.
Joining them on the trip was Dianna Ramos-Hernandez, another nursing student who also attended the program. 鈥淔or me, this trip was an opportunity to learn more about Colombian culture and its healthcare system.鈥� It was also Dianna鈥檚 first study abroad trip, and she wishes she had gone sooner. 鈥淚 am also Hispanic, but I grew up here in the States and so this was a perfect opportunity for me to see how healthcare in other Latin American countries works. I think it鈥檚 important to see not only the similarities and differences but also learn about the social determinants of healthcare and what kind of disparities exist that might be impacting people鈥檚 health.鈥�
All three nursing students graduated in May, and by June they were preparing to take their licensing exams. Dianna recently accepted a position working in the ICU at Tampa General Hospital. Marisol and Rosalba also plan to stay and work in the Tampa Bay area. The program in Colombia helped them gain valuable experience that will help them compete on the job market.
As part of their practicum, the USF students, along with seven students from the nursing school at UniNorte, completed the community health assessments in low-income communities in rural areas around the city of Barranquilla. These assessments consisted of conducting interviews during at-home visits, evaluating the communities鈥� health needs, and giving public health presentations to educate the public. 鈥淒uring the interviews, we would ask questions about their health history, take some basic health measures such as blood pressure, etc,鈥� said Rosalba. 鈥淲e also talked to them about nutritional health. A lot of these communities were low income though and they already know what they need to do but they just don鈥檛 always have the resources to carry it out.鈥� She hopes the students can bring more supplies with them next time, especially sunscreens because a lot of people in those communities do hard manual labor in the sun and sunscreens are very expensive.
The students stayed together in a hotel and went on their excursions as a group instead of splitting up. 鈥淓very day, whichever group was assigned to that location, that was their day to do their assignment while the rest of us observed,鈥� Dianna explained. This way everyone got a fuller picture of the health landscape in the city.
鈥淲e also got to tour the biggest hospital in Barranquilla, which was very exciting. I was glad they gave us that level of behind-the-scenes access,鈥� said Marisol.
The students worked collaboratively on public health education projects at the various sites around the community which included community health centers, daycare centers, and one at UniNorte itself. 鈥淲e gave one presentation on the early signs of ADHD in children for example. Another was at a local polytechnical [vocational training] school for girls up through high school age,鈥� said Rosalba. Students from USF鈥檚 Manatee and Sarasota campuses also attended the program and Rosalba, Marisol, and Dianna were able to provide translation for the non-Spanish-speaking students. 鈥淭hat was an advantage for us, too, we were able to bring different cohorts together and be a bridge between them.鈥�
Dianna said the day they visited the community resource center was one of the most impactful moments of the trip for her. 鈥淚t was in a very poor part of the city and we got to speak directly with the community members. They are a very tight-knit community even though a lot of them lacked basic necessities like A/C and running water, but they all knew each other and trusted one another.鈥�
鈥淭he collaboration between USF and UNINORTE nursing students increases cultural sensitivity, global health awareness, and interconnectedness to prepare engaged professionals who serve as advocates and change leaders in healthcare,鈥� Dr Hernandez added.
The students also worked together on a service-learning project connected to the United Nation鈥檚 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are projects designed to help students apply the skills they learn in the classroom to problems in the 鈥渞eal鈥� world. The SDGs were developed in 2015 to promote sustainable economic development. In this case, USF students were put in communication with a UniNorte nursing student before the program started so that they could design a project together. Marisol, Rosalba, and Dianna all worked on the same project. 鈥淥ur project was connected with SDG #3, which is to ensure healthy lives鈥� Rosalba explained. The goal was to investigate unmet health needs in the community that the students could then contribute to rectifying. 鈥淎s a group, we decided that we wanted to present at the all-girls polytechnical school about preventative sexual health care, so our target audience was adolescent girls.鈥� Their group created an infographic about sexual health and did a collaborative activity in the school.
Rosalba and Marisol grew up in Ruskin. Their parents were farmworkers and had to travel long distances for work. They went into nursing to help give back to their community. For Dianna, nursing was a way to have a real impact on one鈥檚 community and cultural representation was important to her. 鈥淏eing treated by someone who looks like you can make a patient feel more comfortable, more confident, more understood, more heard, and that鈥檚 important to me. I wanted to go into nursing to increase representation for people who look like me.鈥�
All three students gave the Colombia program high marks for having a big impact on both them and the communities they worked in. Dianna appreciated how the USF-UniNorte program in Colombia highlights the importance of a holistic, community approach to public health. 鈥淚f a kid doesn鈥檛 have access to running water, the only time they can brush their teeth is maybe when they鈥檙e at school. So social factors like that really impact a person鈥檚 health outcomes.鈥� Rosalba and Marisol valued the educational aspect of the experience. 鈥淚 feel like I got so much out of doing this trip,鈥� Rosalba said. 鈥淚 learned more from them than they did from me!鈥�
"If you have the opportunity to study abroad,鈥� added Dianna, 鈥淒o it! You won鈥檛 regret it!鈥�