A Nursing student and a Charlottesville resident have created a program in the School of Nursing that will provide health services to countries that lack adequate medical facilities.
Third-year Nursing student Matthew Walden along with Charlottesville resident Rodney Hughes created the group, called Nurses Without Borders, late last semester. Though the Nursing School will decide the group's exact allocation in a meeting today, Quentin Johnson, Nursing assistant dean for student affairs, estimated the group will receive around $2,500 for their first trip.
Johnson said the Nursing School fully supports the endeavor.
"We are behind them," he said. "We think it's absolutely terrific."
Hughes said a main goal of the organization is to provide various health services to certain communities in foreign countries. For their first project, the group is organizing a trip to an understaffed clinic in El Salvador.
About eight Nursing students, a doctor and a nurse will aid the clinic, which has two doctors and three nurses who see over 300 patients per day, he said.
"We're going down to provide as much relief to their clinic as possible," he added. "We're really calling upon the [Charlottesville] community to donate things like toothbrushes and toothpaste" and other health supplies.
In addition to community support and donations from private foundations around the nation, Nurses Without Borders is seeking additional funds from the University.
Asst. Nursing Prof. Louise Ivanov, also the group's faculty advisor, is helping the students get organized in the initial stages.
"I'd like to see this organization ... reach out to other countries and work in a consulting fashion with other schools of nursing," Ivanov said.
The name Nurses Without Borders comes from a similar organization, Doctors Without Borders -- an independent international medical relief agency.
Johnson said he has consulted with the University's General Counsel's Office about different legal aspects the students may encounter on their trip, including liability issues.
Hughes and Walden approached Johnson last semester to help them identify financial resources for their El Salvador trip and to help the group be recognized by the Nursing School.
Johnson said, to his knowledge, this is the first such group of nurses to be created in the United States.
Eventually Hughes said the group plans on establishing similar organizations in many nursing institutions around the world.
But for now, Johnson said he is looking forward to seeing Nurses Without Borders develop.
"It's one of the most exciting things that has come to the University and the School of Nursing in a long while," he said. "There is potential for tremendous growth. It's the spirit of giving and selfless service that makes this country, particularly the University of Virginia and this organization, significant"
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