Finishing our first month on the Gila River reservation was something inspiring. We arrived on a Wednesday to get used to the area and prepare for our orientation that Friday. Orientation just consisted of a tour of the main hospital in district 3 (there are 7 districts within the reservation), a small preview of the surrounding district where we would be living throughout our two months, as well as a view of the clinic in Komatke (district 6). We were able to choose our assignments and begin the next week. Emily and I chose to do school health nursing and were both placed in separate schools to work with the nurse. Summer school classes were going on so we seen the students as they came in to be checked up on, given medications, or use inhalers. I received a new perspective on schools nurses throughout this time. Prior to this site, I believed the nurse did not do as much and just mainly sat around doing little paperwork and see the children. It is actually that with a lot more involved. They do planning for the school year and how best to address the students. They attend competencies (which we had the pleasure of attending for three full days) and talk about the previous school year and changes. They go through training to better prepare for their students. That’s one thing that really sticks out; the students are THEIR students. They care for the students and act as providers for them. They go out of their way to get things done for them and even talk to students on a daily basis to see how they are doing and even boost their morale at times. It was great to see the smiles on their faces when they would be given a compliment. While I was there, I assessed a few students when they came in feeling under the weather, gave some medications, and even participated in some of the planning. There was a parent enrollment night for the parents to enroll their students and fill out all the forms for the upcoming school year. I was given the task of finding a major problem that occurs in the schools and create a poster board on it. The topic that was chosen was lice and I learned a lot of information regarding it that I had not even known. It was a great experience working with my school nurse and engaging with the other ones at times as well.
The Pima natives have seemed to have been very accepting of us so far. When we encounter them and they find out that we are students, they like to hear where we are from and seem to like the fact that we are down here. One new experience with the culture is that of tasting their fry bread. Fry bread is a type of dough that gets fried and can be served in multiple different ways. As of now, I have tried it with honey and powdered sugar on it, which was amazing and similar to a funnel cake, and I have tried it with red chili and cheese. Red chili and cheese and fry bread is amazing. The natives that serve it are nice and will have small conversations with us as they prepare it and then when you try it, you just almost fall in love with the dish. I definitely plan on trying more varieties of it as well as sticking with the red chili.
Outside of nursing, this past month has been to exploring the areas around the reservation. We have only seen a few districts but I plan on being in public health this upcoming month so I am hoping to see more of them and have a greater interaction with the community. But we have explored the nearby towns of Chandler, Phoenix, and Maricopa. They are all nice areas and are all within 15 to 30 minutes of the reservation. We have spent a lot of time in Barnes and Noble in Chandler this month to use the internet.
Due to our location, we have also been able to visit the Grand Canyon. Along the way we stopped in Sedona, which is an amazing place and a pretty decent tourist attraction. We did an overnight stay at the Grand Canyon and had an amazing time. The day after our return, we went back to work, and straight from work we left to attend a Cleveland Indians vs. Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game. It was a great game and Cleveland won also. This upcoming month, I will be in Public Health Nursing and hope to learn a lot more about the Pima tribe and continue to enjoy this amazing experience.
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