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Oklahoma Christian University continues to teams with Predisan in an effort to extend fundraising for Honduras mission.
Predisan is a nonprofit organization that Oklahoma Christian University has partnered with since 2007. Nursing students travel to Honduras through Predisan to aid with medical relief and to spread the word of God.
Nursing students Eric Alberts and Carlie Croxton along with several others have worked with Predisan to help people in developing country.
“When we were in Honduras, we did two things,” Croxton said. “We went to schools and communities that were underprivileged and [didn’t] have access to a lot of things like water, electricity, doctors. What we did in the short time that we were there was teach them how to be healthy.”
Many nursing students take advantage of the opportunity to go to Honduras with Predisan.
“I went to Honduras through Predisan a few years ago and it is this big nonprofit organization,” Alberts said. “It is Christian-based and they have a little chapel in the middle of it. Surgeons and doctors will go there before they do anything. It is kind of like a glorified clinic because [they] provide more than just general care for people.”
Alberts and Croxton both performed several different tasks while working with Predisan. Alberts was able to minister to people while getting experience in his field.
“I also did some blood draws on some patients,” Alberts said. “There was this rehab center and I just hung out and did devotionals with the patients.”
Part of Croxton’s experience was helping kids with various ailments at several schools.
“I did different things to help the kids with abdominal cramps and pain,” Croxton said. “One thing I saw was that most of the kids had cavities and also had to be vaccinated from different diseases. I wanted to teach them how to eat healthy [and] be active. We went to one school a day.”
Study abroad coordinator Mendy Kooi traveled to Honduras to see what Oklahoma Christian nursing students were doing.
“I went twice to look around because we were sending our nursing students down there,” Kooi said. “We have the students take a class called Health Care Admission and part of their clinical piece, at the end of their class, this can be inner-city or international. Not every student has to go to Honduras, but they are encouraged.”
Kooi said that many of the students enjoyed the program and even felt empowered to try to go again in the future.
“Our nursing students get to go and spend a week in the mountains.” Kooi said. “It’s pretty isolated, desolate and rugged, and they can reach out to the clinics. It is has no electricity. I have always heard that the experience is always really good.”
Croxton said these mountain trips were something interesting she couldn’t have experienced in the U.S.
“We went to one school a day and we would break up into two groups and would go to around twelve schools,” Croxton said. “We would go up mountains and a lot of the kids would get car sick. I felt like I was on Indiana Jones because sometimes the car rides would take us about two hours.”
Though the trips up the mountains were sometimes unpleasant, the children they worked with made the traveling well worth it, according to Croxton.
“My favorite part was hanging out with the kids,” Croxton said. “They were always so grateful to see us and we would give them toothpaste and toothbrushes and things like that and they always had the expression on their face that they had never had this stuff before. After we were done we would just get to play with them. Even though we didn’t speak the same language we were still able to have a lot of fun with them.”
Alberts said he learned a lot from those teaching the nursing students.
“They were all so patient, and the doctors were all really nice and accepting,” Alberts said. “I couldn’t believe how willing they were to watch us learn correctly.”
Kooi also saw this going on even though she was taking part in the learning or teaching process.
“They learn from a lab technician that doesn’t speak any English and so they stand there with a translator as they are working through the process,” Kooi said. “As they are standing there with a patient, they learn how to do this in another language. They are welcoming and loving to everyone and very hospitable.”
Others can support Predisan by participating in its charity events. Oklahoma Christian is hosting a Predisan dinner on Sept. 27 from 6-10 p.m. The event is open to the public at $20 per person.
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