Panola College Students Participate in Project Belize

Recently two Panola College nursing students participated in an elective course called “Project Belize”.  They traveled to the remote jungles of the Toledo District in Belize, Central America to help provide nursing care to isolated native Mayan citizens. 

Ms. Rhonda Melander and Ms. Shannon McKamy were chosen to participate in the medical mission started twenty years ago by health care providers from Nacogdoches, Texas.  Dr. Barbara Cordell, Director of the AD Nursing Program at Panola College accompanied the pair as their instructor.  Dr. Cordell has traveled with the mission group for the past twelve years and decided to involve students six years ago when she came to Panola College. 

Melander and McKamy conducted assessments of patients who came to the make-shift clinics.  They provided basic nursing care such as health education, nutrition information, vitamin supplements and medications if indicated.  The clinics were held in remote villages without running water or electricity.  Most of the huts where people live had dirt floors and thatched roofs.  The student nurses had opportunities to clean wounds, give injections, and most importantly give culturally sensitive comfort and education. 

“The experience of going to such a poor village really puts health care into perspective.  We have so much in the United States that we take for granted,” says Dr. Cordell. “The students gained valuable experience with a culture very different from their own and became better nurses as a result.”

Dr. Barbara Cordell works with Ms. Rhonda Melander to administer eardrops to an infant.