About Heather

heather_ferrari_profileThroughout my life I have traveled to multiple countries and seen different cultures, socioeconomic levels, and the needs of people in their own communities, but what I have not experienced is the availability of health care and the care provided to people in their own country. I have served on mission trips to third world countries and have discussed with the hosts of the trips the medical needs and accessibility, but I have not been able to experience it. I have taken community health for nursing where I worked with a refugee family seeking a new life in America. I was able to communicate with them the importance of health care and daily decisions the family could make to improve their overall health. I also worked in an Intensive Care Unit a previous summer with a very diverse client base. I helped care for patients from Korea, Vietnam, Honduras, and Mexico. They all had cultural requests, and as a health care provider I had to adapt to their desires and wants while still providing the best possible care as possible. Adjusting care based on cultural difference and language barriers is not always easy, but as I am in the process of becoming a nurse it is important for me to understand their requests and still provide the best care as possible with the best intentions for my patients in mind.

I will be working as a nurse intern in Nepal in hospitals and medical centers throughout Kathmandu and Chitwan. By observing local nurses, I will be exposed to diseases and illness that I would not normally see here in the United States. Most diseases that I will come into contact with will be preventable, and often originate from malnutrition. I will shadow the nurses and observe their work, most of the nurses deal with direct treatment of the patients, and most of the basic care is performed by the family. I will be assigned to a department and meet with the head of the department on my first day, then shadow a nurse that is on duty at my scheduled time. Another possible area to spend time on is the community outreach project. These are done monthly or bi-monthly. These projects provide free health checks and distribute medication to suburban or remote communities. I also might get the opportunity to visit local schools and lead hygiene and health classes. Projects abroad also arranges workshops for the nursing interns in Nepal.