LEWISTON – Sixty-three students from the University of Southern Maine’s Nursing Program, including several from the L-A campus, recently spent two weeks in the Dominican Republic as part of a rural health outreach program.

The program was established in 1993 by USM’s College of Nursing and Health Professions. Twice a year, in July and January, a group of nursing students, faculty members, doctors, dental specialists and volunteers spend two weeks in the Dominican Republic providing nursing, medicine and community health services to rural villages that would otherwise have no healthcare. Nursing students, as well as social work and language students, obtain course credit for participating in the program.

Students gain clinical experience serving as healthcare providers to remote village populations. The villages are difficult to access due to mountainous terrain and washed out roads.

The USM medical group serves 16 villages as well as several hospitals. The students and nursing faculty members set up clinics for direct patient care, make home visits and provide teaching sessions to educate families concerning common health problems. They provide care for chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, as well as well check-ups, dental cleaning and minor acute illnesses.

All medical supplies and medicine were brought in by the USM students. The group collected donations from various organizations, hospitals and physicians, and also sponsored fund-raisers. Since a group from USM returns to the same villages every six months, they are able to treat chronic illnesses with medications that villagers would otherwise not have access to.