At a glance
Alfred State College (ASC) nursing students in the Hope for Health Club will once again be providing some much-needed medical aid to residents of Haiti when they travel to the country this coming May.
Alfred State College (ASC) nursing students in the Hope for Health Club will once again be providing some much-needed medical aid to residents of Haiti when they travel to the country this coming May.
The group will depart from the US May 26 for the village of Chambrun, and fly back June 2. Participants include students Ashley Bender (Apalachin), Carla Badio (Snellville, GA), Kimberly Jenkins (Black Creek), Christy Lee (Whitesville), Samantha Smith (Eldred, PA), Catherine Miner (Dansville), Brooke Geibel (Hornell), Mitchell Colvin (Campbell), and Whitney Farrand (Franklinville).
Also attending the trip will be nursing alumni Emily Stella and Jennifer Ross, as well as ASC Assistant Director of Health and Wellness Services Daniel Woolston, and Assistant Professor of Nursing Jessica Lippa and her husband, Geoffrey, who is a visiting professor in biology at Alfred University.
According to Woolston, the team will be providing mobile medical clinics for four days, two of which will focus on an earthquake displacement community, while the two other days will center around a pair of remote villages. The group will be serving with an organization called “Nehemiah Vision Ministries,” which is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization that ministers to people living in the communities of Chambrun and Onaville, along with smaller villages within a 10-mile radius of its 18-acre ministry camps. For more information on this organization, visit www.nvm.org.
College nursing student Mitchell Colvin, right, along
with an interpreter named Pierre Markens.
“We will also get a chance to see the malnutrition clinic, medical clinic, and women’s health clinic at the main Nehemiah Vision location,” Woolston said. “Also, we spend some time with the children in the nearby village of Chambrun.”
To help offset necessary expenses, the team is currently holding a crowdfunding campaign for the trip, with an ultimate fundraising goal of $20,000. Donations made will initially go toward medications, Pedialyte, and medical supplies, with any additional contributions helping defray the cost of students’ room and board.
To donate, visit www.alfredstate.edu/make-a-gift, click on “Student Fundraising,” under “Giving Opportunities,” and find the “Hope for Health Nursing Club” button on the bottom of the page. Also, check out the club’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/AlfredStateHopeforHealthClub/.
Offering his thoughts on the annual trip, Woolston said, “My greatest satisfaction is seeing the student nurses and the rest of the team experience making a difference in other people’s lives. It is humbling to be a part of this effort to show compassion and kindness toward those in need.”
Jessica Lippa noted that the trip has a big impact on ASC nursing students, who are able to grow and learn as a result of interacting with, diagnosing, and treating the Haitian patients.
“The students are changed somehow after an experience like this, and they come home with an appreciation that is hard to explain,” she said. They are able to look at the positive instead of the negative, and they live with gratitude and love for one another.”