Nurses have the rewarding job of healing the mind, body, and soul of their patients, and sometimes their patients do the same for them. This was especially true for Serena Noinala, Joey Balog, Saili Kline, and Jessica Decess, four registered nurses from Boston, Atlanta and Denver whose lives were touched after their international clinics trip to India with Project C.U.R.E. After an exhausting journey of over 40 hours, these four nurses met in state of Mizoram in northwest India, in a town called Aizawl, a seemingly forgotten village that was built on cliff walls.
They would endure rough terrain on their commutes, even driving over a tenuous site from an old mudslide. And their job at hand was no small feat: hundreds of patients lined up at their free medical clinic, and for four days they triaged, performed wound care, drew labs, and provided point-of-care testing.
But these nurses would not have traded the experience for the world.
The team formed an instant connection upon arrival at the airport, which only grew deeper through their shared experience of helping the people who desperately need their skills. Saili remembered spending two hours treating a little girl who had terrible mouth sores from a typhoid infection, and took pride in how much better her mouth looked after her care. “Her mouth looked so much better and she felt the relief of the scabs being gone,” Saili says. Jess was touched after seeing a woman carrying her injured husband on her back to get treated at the clinic. “She was the primary care-giver for the family, while doing the farm work,” Jess says, “The weight of seeing that was really heavy.”
Despite all the hardship around her, Serena reminisced about patients being extremely grateful just to receive a simple ibuprofen to treat their pain. Being southeast Asian, Serena was able to form a strong cultural connection to the patients she was treating. “She’s being modest,” Joey laughed, “She was so sweet to them and basically had celebrity status.”
Joey, who was head and shoulders taller than most of the people there, also seemed to be a celebrity. He remembered multiple people asking to take a picture with him, including a girl with special needs who called him “Mount Everest.”
Making these connections not only with each other, but with the patients they were caring for was a humbling and humanizing experience. Their patients overwhelmed them with appreciation, as they seemed happy just to be seen by a healthcare professional – by someone who cares. One dedicated patient they treated at the clinic traveled hours by bus to a larger town just to get a recommended chest x-ray, and then traveled all the way back to the clinic the next day to show them. Dedication to better healthcare became contagious, and our nurses were the catalysts.
“[The trip] was so rewarding as a nurse,” Joey says, “I can’t describe how thankful I am for this opportunity.”
“Everyone is so grateful that you really feel like you make a difference,” Serena agrees, “It’s addicting!” For them, this trip was indeed addicting. Saili, Jess, Joey, and Serena already plan on participating in another Project C.U.R.E clinics trip to Ghana next September, and they are beyond excited!
If you are a healthcare professional with a love of travel and a desire to offer your valuable skills to people who need it the most, check out our International Clinics Trips here.