A group of nursing students from Georgian College in Owen Sound are making a trip to the Dominican Republic — but it won’t be for a holiday.
Instead of staying at a posh beach front resort, the students and several nursing professors will instead visit an area of the country tourists never see.
Nursing Professor Lynn Hoath says the poverty in the interior of the Dominician is shocking and many of the people do not even have basic sanitation services like running water or sewers.
And she says for the Haitian labourers working in the sugar cane fields, the conditions are even worse.
Hoath says on this trip the group will help run nursing and other health related clinics, do health assessments and home visits.
She says for the student nurses this is a real learning experience as they find out what nursing in a third world country is really like.
Hoath says this is their 8th trip to the Dominican and there have been some changes as far as improvements to health care are concerned.
She says in the one town they will visit, garbage is now picked up rather than just thrown into the near by river.
The group left for the Dominican Republic today.
