Blog 3

Another part of community nursing that was not discussed in previous blogs has to do with the schools of Panama. I really enjoyed visiting the schools and it was interesting to see another part of community nursing. I thought that the kids of Nutre Hogar were very excited to see our group. We were lucky enough to teach them American games and brought smiles to their faces. In community nursing you aren’t always giving medications out but like in this case you are putting smiles on malnourished children. This is a new way to learn about community nursing besides reading about it.

            At the next school on the edge of Chitre near the beach we were able to teach them lessons about hand washing, nutrition, germs, and more. They were really excited to learn and it was easy to teach them because we had the Spanish-speaking students with us. This was a great experience because it lifted our morals about being in Chitre and everyone had a great time. As community nurses we educated the students on simple things that will improve their way of life.

The next school we went to was in Las Minas about an hour or so away from Chitre. The children seemed a little shy at first because they were not used to seeing so many new people and interacting with them. We taught them the same presentations as the previous school and the Spanish speaking students were with us again. When we were teaching their lessons they were a little timid at first, but after the freeze tag they really started to warm up to us. After giving them the donations of shoes and socks they seemed really happy and again we were acting as nurses in the community. It seemed like these simple actions we did made a great impact for the children and I am glad we were able to experience that. It was a great experience to be out in the community as nurses.