The real difference
LLU students journey to Surat Adventist Hospital in India for a lesson in learning
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When Ralph Perrin, DrPH, dean of student affairs for Loma Linda University, began to plan a mission trip for the 2000 spring break, there were several considerations he kept in mind. Of foremost importance was to give the students an opportunity to learn from the professionals at the hospital where they were going. "Our purpose in going on this particular mission trip was different than others," he explains. "In others we may provide all the health care. On this one, they already had a health-care program in place, and our purpose was to go in and learn from them, watch and observe, and see how they function differently." Surat Hospital Trust Association of Seventh-day Adventists, a 130-bed hospital located in Gujarat, India, met that purpose. The hospital, established in 1936, currently has 164 employees and is the largest Adventist hospital in India. The hospital staff sees approximately 50 patients a day, and has a nursing school affiliated with it. "India was chosen because it was an interesting place to go," notes Dr. Perrin, "and it best met the needs of our students. A lot of projects are out there, and this one seemed do-able." Unfortunately, student time on-site was limited because of spring break. When it takes almost three days to get to one's destination, the lone week that spring break allows for is usually not enough time. "For this kind of mission, we really needed at least two weeks. It was unfortunate that just as the students were learning something, it was time for us to go," he states. A wide range of students took part in the mission trip. Five students from the School of Allied Health Professions, four students from the School of Public Health, three students from the School of Medicine, three students from the School of Dentistry, and two students from the Graduate School came to learn from the Indian professionals. Also taking part in the mission trip was George B. Clarke Jr., DDS, MS, a 1973 graduate of the School of Dentistry who is from Fresno; and Eileen Stuart, MSW, RN, from Portland, Oregon. Students were involved in presenting evening week of prayer services for the hospital staff and the nursing students. After the meetings, the group was able to socialize with some of the Indian people. "The students made some great friends in that short amount of time," says Dr. Perrin. "They need that time, when they have the opportunity, to learn about the people and understand their culture. Our sensitivity to the needs of others is greatly enhanced by spending time with them." The benefits of this time spent quickly became apparent to Dr. Perrin. In just a few weeks since the return from India, Dr. Perrin has already received several letters from staff members and students in India regarding their trip. "These were letters of friendship and appreciation for bringing the students over and sharing the week of prayer. These things happened because we spent a little bit of time outside of class and clinic just talking with them," points out Dr. Perrin. During the week at the hospital, Dr. Perrin was able to take a group of students to do some rural health education. Students took part in home health care and well-baby clinics. It allowed them to get outside the town and interact with local people. |
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| James Hong, a School of Medicine student, checks on a patient's leg at Surat Hospital. | ||
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| Adventist College in Gujarat, India, is part of the Surat Hospital Trust Association of Seventh-day Adventists, a 130-bed hospital. | ||
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| School of Public Health students Catherine Oliveros (fourth from left), Melissa Olmstead (center), and Linda Giang (third from right), pose for a picture with a group of first-year nursing students in their dorm room. | ||
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| Esther Kang, a Graduate School student, talks with a patriarch in a village near Surat. Students fellowshipped with local east Indians while doing rural home health care. |
"We went through the instruction of well-baby nutrition, breast feeding, bathing, monitoring the development of the child through height and weight, and then educating the parents as to how to keep the baby healthy and growing," says Dr. Perrin.
The group was invited into the villagers' homes, and it was here that Dr. Perrin felt they experienced the greatest part of India: interaction with the people in their environment.
"It is quite an experience to go to houses that are made out of cow dung," adds Dr. Perrin. "The houses usually had electricity, and they always kept them very neat and clean."
The students were able to see firsthand how villagers store their grain in homemade bins in their house. The large bins, or jars, stood five-and-a-half feet in height and were sealed so no rats or insects could get at the grain. When the villagers needed the grain, they would cut the lid off the top.
"Villagers also keep their cattle in their homes," says Dr. Perrin. "The livestock have their own special partition to keep them from wandering throughout the house--that was interesting to see."
Another major area that the group covered during their educational discussions was the issue of sanitation. Often, the rural homes that the students traveled to had no toilet facilities. Many of the Indians who lived in rural areas utilized the fields that come right up to the immediate area of the house. This led to an increase in diseases among the Indian population, an area that was targeted as something the mission group could improve upon.
The students also helped educate the rural villagers about the importance of hand sanitation, which is an increasing problem in rural regions of India.
According to Dr. Perrin, the Surat project had three goals which were: first and foremost, to work among the health-care professionals who were Indian and had been trained in India; to do a week of prayer series there; and to provide rural health education and home health care.
"Our students needed to not only learn from health care, but to get an understanding of what Christianity is like in a country where less than three percent of the population is Christian. To be where people are struggling to live a Christian lifestyle and make Christian decisions [because there are so few Christians], it was a great experience for them to fellowship with the local people," states Dr. Perrin.
Some students were able to provide medical help in the surgery rooms of the hospital, including the delivery of a few babies. Dr. Perrin points out that going to a place such as Surat impacts how students think of helping others, whether that help is money, time, or skill.
"What we did there was negligible," he adds. "The real difference that we made was emotional, in that we were creating bonding relationships with church members and other people within the community. The difference will be made in the lives of these students and how they go out into the world and use that experience."
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