Second-year Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences students Danielle Lare and Joanna Bierlein have received study abroad scholarships to help fund a summer trip to Haiti to explore healthcare and rehabilitative services with Professor of Physical Therapy Kai Kennedy.
Lare was awarded the Sara Forrest Thompson Hunt Mission Fund scholarship and Bierlein received the Spencer Center for Civic and Global Engagement Endowed Fund scholarship. Both were earned through a competitive application process.
Kennedy plans to take about 13 students to Haiti in August as a capstone to her ongoing Perspectives in Global Health course. Partnering with the School of Nursing Sciences at the Wesleyan University of Haiti, physical therapy and occupational therapy students from MDCHS will travel to the Island of La Gonave, off the coast of Haiti, to teach nurses at the local hospital movement-related skills related to patient care and to support nursing students there who host a community healthcare forum to educate residents on the risk of hypertension.
Kennedy has laid the groundwork in establishing the connection between Murphy Deming and the Haitian university, including traveling to the Caribbean nation to deliver guest lectures.
This particular connection with Haiti was sparked at a community forum at Mary Baldwin in October 2014 that brought together various community groups engaged in service in Haiti.