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Off The Clock: Nurse Erika
By April Rowe, RN
The streets of San Marcos de Caiquin, Honduras. Nurses play a crucial role in healthcare systems, and their dedication to helping others doesn't end when they clock out. Volunteering their time outside of work is a great way to give back to the community. By helping out at a local food bank or providing medical care to underserved populations, volunteering can be an enriching way for nurses to spend their free time.
Programs that matter
Nurses Beyond Borders and One World Surgery are just a couple of the many notable companies that provide volunteer opportunities for nurses to travel abroad and make a difference in the lives of people in need.
These programs allow nurses to step out of their comfort zone, explore new cultures and languages, learn new skills, and make a global impact. They also provide a chance for nurses to apply their expertise in diverse contexts and gain invaluable experiences.
Volunteering as a nurse abroad
A registered nurse from Reno, Nevada, Erika Breitwieser, shared she “became a nurse to try and make a difference for those in need. What better way to do that than to go serve communities that desperately need assistance.”
Erika has worked on the medical nephrology/medical surgical floor for the past seven years and also works as a travel nurse in Nevada and California. She took her traveling nursing skills to the next level by going abroad on a 7-day medical mission to Honduras in 2018.
Through MEDICO, a non-profit humanitarian organization that serves communities in Central America, Erika left the comfort of the U.S. for the first time in her life. “Not only was it my first time volunteering abroad, it was my first time ever traveling abroad,” noted Erika.
Despite the fact that Honduras had been experiencing a lot of civil unrest and was not the safest location for travelers, Erika selflessly stepped out of her comfort zone to volunteer her time to provide much-needed medical care to a community in need.
The most rewarding thing for me was seeing the amount of gratitude for the simplest of things.
“The people that we provided care to were so impoverished that they were grateful for a Tylenol or a vitamin. They came by horse, on foot (some without shoes), packed tightly in the back of old pick-up trucks, and in vans that had been set up ahead of time. They stood in line for hours and were still grateful for even the smallest amount of care. The most rewarding thing for me was seeing the amount of gratitude for the simplest of things,” she recalled.
MEDICO provides education, medical, dental, and vision services to the communities they serve. Erika’s volunteer role was to triage the patients by gathering intake information, obtaining vital signs, and performing a baseline assessment. Some patients required IV therapy or the administration of emergency medications.
Patients of all ages showed up for medical care, ranging from newborn babies to older adults. Erika expressed her love for the patients, saying,“They were friendly and patient and just as curious about us as we were about them. They understood my very limited Spanish, and we found a way to lead each other through our interactions.”
Erika shared, “My experience was very positive. The other volunteers were amazing, the patients we cared for were humble and kind, and the country was beautiful. What a terrific opportunity this was for me to grow. It was an eye-opening, life-changing experience, and I will absolutely be going back.”
Learn more about volunteer Opportunities abroad with Medico by visiting their Website at MEDICO.ORG.
