Fall 2012 - Villanova University

Nurses Learnto BuildCommunityHealthThe global health experience in Peru is an option in theCollege of Nursing’s Health Promotion Practicum.By Shawn ProctorEight senior Villanova nursing students. TwoCollege of Nursing faculty. Three months of preparation.Nearly 22 hours of travel to the AugustinianMission in Chulucanas, Peru. Seven days that changed lives.The nursing students arrived in Peru prepared to work withcommunity health promoters from Chulucanas to provide careto patients in their homes and educate the promoters in thecommunity about disease management and basic health needs.“We’re not there to introduce anything that the people ofChulucanas cannot sustain. It’s about affecting lifestyles. We’rehelping make their lives, from a health perspective, more manageable,”says Karen McKenna, ’70 CON, ’83 MSN, RN, assistantprofessor in the College of Nursing, who has helped to organizethe international nursing experience for the past 13 years.Endowment support from the Connelly Foundation enablesthe College of Nursing to offer global health experiences suchas this one as part of its required and elective courses.It began as an exploratory trip and is now an option inthe College’s Health Promotion Practicum. In the monthsbefore they leave, students and faculty analyze leading healthindicators and variables, such as socioeconomic, political andreligious factors that impact health. Students then prepare andtranslate teaching presentations to address current health needsof the community.villanova.edu 23