The group also painted the exterior of a local kindergarten and explored Zagreb, Plitvice Lakes, Jasenovac Concentration Camp, Cigoc stork village, and Vinarija Florijanovic Winery.

Mechanical Engineering professor Dr. Ellen Brehob serves as the academic representative of the Speed School for Croatia, a country situated in Eastern Europe near the Adriatic Sea. With two decades of service under her belt, Brehob sees the program first and foremost as immersion in to new experiences.

“I think that Croatia is different because it’s not a third world country. They have good food, good teeth. The program is a little different. I think you go because you want to do something good. But it’s not like we’re going to give them good drinking water, it’s more a cultural exchange,” Brehob said.

The Croatian program is relatively new, having developed within approximately the last six years. A former Communist state, Croatia endured a grueling civil war in the early 1990s, from which it has since recovered. That was part of the discussion as the Croatia program developed.

“What they wanted was conflict resolution and how to keep peace, and we haven’t really met that,” Brehob said.��

As part of the multi-disciplinary program, engineering students work along with communications and nursing students to help assemble a program that they can take to Croatian high school students.

“Our students get to talk with high school students (about) what it’s like to live in Croatia, what are their lives like. The Croatian students are really intrigued by Americans. They like talking to UofL students,” Brehob said.��

Brehob hopes that the students walk away with a fresh perspective on the chances that they are afforded in the United States. Croatian students are often short on career options, and Brehob reports that a majority seek to move out of the country to find employment. Still, she has had a great experience in Croatia and believes that her students have benefited as well.

“I love that in Croatia, they have a real sense of family. They don’t have as much money, but they have a happy, comfortable life,” Brehob said.

The full story about Brehob’s experience is available on the J.B. Speed School of Engineering .��

Delaney, a BSN student at the University of Louisville School of Nursing, and Assistant Professor Paul Clark, PhD, RN, MA, recently returned from a month-long service learning trip to the East African country.

The trip, organized by the , included students, faculty and staff from seven other colleges and universities in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia, and entailed providing care at hospitals and orphanages.

Improvisation became a necessity as the students worked in a labor and delivery ward, helped with minor surgeries and performed general exams, Delaney said.

Tanzania is one of the world’s poorest economies in terms of per capita income and patients have to bring their own supplies – including syringes, bandages and antiseptics – when they come to medical facilities for procedures.

Simple tasks, such as cleaning wounds, are a challenge.

“Usually antibiotic ointment or antiseptic is used, but patients would bring honey to have their wounds cleaned,” Delaney said. “Sometimes, we only had used washcloths and water to clean wounds because those were the only materials we could find in the room.”

Delaney said the challenging practice setting and working with patients of a different culture broadened her critical thinking skills in providing care. She encouraged other UofL students to participate in international service learning trips.

“It was just a great experience,” Delaney said. “Often in the states we take for granted the technology and medical advancements we have.”

The group returned last week from a clinical and service learning trip to Thomonde, a region in the central part of the country, where they provided health screenings and education. This was the first time the School of Nursing sponsored a trip to Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere that faces serious barriers to health care.

“There is no place in Haiti that is not devastatingly poor,” said Marianne Hutti, PhD, APRN, School of Nursing professor who helped supervise the trip. “The clinics didn’t have some of the most basic things that they needed.”

Through Louisville-based nonprofit , the group brought about 150 pounds of medical supplies to clinics, including thermometers, stethoscopes, bandages, exam gloves, antiseptics and a baby scale.

The School of Nursing group, which included a nurse practitioner and a registered nurse who work in Louisville, treated more than 600 patients over five days in partnership with , a nonprofit that supports health care in Haiti.

Most in rural Haiti have little-to-no access to basic health care, hospitals, prenatal care, clean water or sanitation systems, according to Project Medishare. One in five children dies before reaching the age of 5.

Despite providing care with limited resources, Mary Kring, a student in the School of Nursing’s , broadened her abilities.

“I worked in the prenatal assessment area, which provided me with some new skills as I have never worked in this area before,” Kring said. “Twice, we were able to diagnose twins for expectant mothers using our hands, measuring tape and a Doppler ultrasound. The women were ecstatic to hear the news.”

Mary Allis, a BSN student at the School of Nursing’s extension campus in Owensboro, said working in Haiti was humbling and she plans to participate in another service learning trip through the school.

“During my time in Haiti, I got to experience more in depth what I had been getting to practice in my first semester of clinicals,” Allis said. “It was amazing to get to step out of my comfort zone and to help those around me.”