PANOLA COLLEGE TO PARTICIPATE IN "PROJECT BELIZE"

Each year for the last thirteen years, a group of volunteers has traveled to the remote jungles of Belize in Central America to provide health care to the Mayan Indians. This year, two Panola College Associate Degree Nursing graduates will be traveling with the Director of the program to help with the mission.

Stephen Whiddon and Bobby Yarborough were selected from a pool of applicants to travel with Dr. Barbara Cordell, Director, ADN Program, to Belize. This will be Dr. Cordell’s sixth trip on the health care mission but her first time to take Panola students.

The group will travel by air to Belize City and then by commuter plane to Punta Gorda. Travel will then be in rented vans to the Toledo district in southern Belize. Clinics will be held in local schoolhouses or community centers. Doctors, nurses, and dentists will be available to treat clients for infections, infestations, malnutrition, decayed teeth, and other ailments.

The nursing students will perform nursing assessments and provide care in keeping with their educational level. They will endure the hardships of working and living without running water or electricity. All participants must carry food, and clothing, and other necessities for the week in a backpack. Water from rivers and streams is filtered and treated for drinking water. The streams are also used for bathing and cooling off from the 90-degree heat.

Panola College hopes to offer this exciting learning adventure each year for nursing students.