Dominican Republic experience brings together students from different disciplines

During the Fall Break international nursing clinical experience in the Dominican Republic (DR), junior and senior nursing students partnered with six students from Campus Ministry to provide care, education, and service to Haitian immigrants living in the sugar cane fields. The nursing students were joined by four students majoring in biology/science as a pathway to medical school and two students from the Villanova School of Business. During their time in the DR, the students majoring in the biology, chemistry, physics, and business had the opportunity to see nursing care in action and learn skills alongside the nursing students. In this picture, senior nursing student Samantha Cembrook (center) and junior nursing student Rachel Seggel (left), teach Ben Kramer, a student majoring in physics and chemistry how to take a blood pressure.

After working with the nursing students in rural, mobile healthcare clinics all week, business major Lupe Mata exclaimed that he “loves nurses.” Assistant Professor Tamara Kear, PhD, RN, CNN, who guided the nursing students along with adjunct faculty Cathy McDonald, MSN, RN, notes, "It was an excellent opportunity for the students majoring in nursing, science, and business to learn more about the disciplines of other students at Villanova University and find that we all share common links in our professions."