Fourteen Nicholls nursing students are planning to go on a mission trip to Granada, Nicaragua, scheduled for the month of April to assist orphan children. Dr. Adrienne Bethancourt, associate professor of nursing, the Rev. Jim Morrison of the St. Thomas Aquinas Center and a nurse practitioner who will serve as an interpreter will all accompany the students to Granada. Bethancourt said she got the idea to have a mission trip while in church one day.
“This is something that I have always wanted to do, and it will be a good chance for the nursing students to gain experience. I think the trip will deepen them (nursing students) spiritually, and they will have a ‘been there, done that’ attitude from the experience,” Bethancourt said.
Morrison and the nursing students themselves planned the trip.
Some of the nursing students upon arriving in Granada in April hope to achieve several goals. “I think we’re trying to achieve two goals; one is to better ourselves, another is to better a place in poverty, but we’re going to receive more than we’re probably going to end up giving,” Celeste Torres, senior from Raceland, said. “I think what we’re trying to get accomplished is to go to another country and get a feel for what their culture is and have a better appreciation for what we have, medical wise,” Lindsey Louque, a nursing senior from Raceland, said.
“We hope to make this an annual trip with the right fundraising,” Bethancourt said.
According to Bethancourt, when the students arrive in Granada they will complete several tasks such a, going to a hospital and assisting at a clinic or children center on the street. Bethancourt court and the nursing students also plan to take the kids at the children center and some local kids living on the street to the beach for fun.
“There are a lot of kids huffing glue who we would like to assist. We also want to teach good hygiene techniques,” Bethancourt said.
Donations and fundraisers that the nursing students plan themselves fund the trip. Some of the planned fundraising events include a candle sale, Feb.16; a garage sale in Betsy Cheramie Ayo Hall, March 6; jambalaya and white bean dinner, March 20; pictures with the Easter bunny and Easter egg hunt which will be open to the community, April 3, and a T-shirt sale that will start in March and continue to April. The donations and fundraisers will go toward such expenses as passports, airfare, living and food arrangements for the nursing students while in Granada. For information about any of the scheduled events contact Adrienne Bethancourt at 448-4706.