Care, Compassion, and Culture: Service-Learning in Costa Rica
海角社区 School of Kinesiology students travel to Costa Rica for hands-on medical experience and cultural exchange.
BATON ROUGE鈥敽＝巧缜� School of Kinesiology students traveled to Costa Rica to work with varied allied healthcare professionals in May 2019, where they assisted the practice and learned effective ways to communicate about patient care across cultures as part of a service-learning study abroad course.
By taking Drs. Amanda Benson and Meghan Jackson鈥檚 Kinesiology (KIN) 4505: Human Movement Practicum course, students worked closely with doctors and nurses to help provide care to San Jose community members in clinical settings such as traditional exam rooms, emergency rooms, laboratories, and in schools where children received physical exams. Most of the students were majoring in athletic training or Kinesiology with a concentration in human movement science. These students aspire to pursue careers as athletic trainers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, physicians and physician鈥檚 assistants.
鈥淲orking in public health clinics is a natural fit with service learning,鈥� said Benson, professor of professional practice in Kinesiology. 鈥淭hese students were able to work with populations that they would not normally have gained experience with and were able to help clinicians provide services to their patients.鈥�
Through Americas Educational Programs (AEP), Drs. Benson and Jackson formed a partnership with the Coopasana Clinic, which is part of Costa Rica鈥檚 universal healthcare system. The clinic鈥檚 accessibility and volume of patients ensured 海角社区 students would serve the community鈥檚 most pressing healthcare demands and also interact with primarily Spanish-speaking citizens.
鈥淐oopasana is primary care service, so they are [on] the front lines of seeing the needs of the community,鈥� said Dr. Roberto Rodriguez-Levi, the director of AEP and facilitator of the partnership. For more information on AEP and its educational programs, please visit:
One of Costa Rica鈥檚 recent healthcare initiatives is to provide check-ups for children in schools, which includes administering vaccines, measuring height and weight, and testing vision and hearing. 海角社区 students served as assistants to the physicians performing these physicals and interacted with children, which naturally 鈥渢he kids loved,鈥� added Benson. [Image 1246]
海角社区 senior Ishan Mehrotra assisted nurses in local schools with health screenings such as vision, hearing, and height/weight.
Dr. Amanda Benson, School of Kinesiology
These kinds of patient care interactions also addressed another significant learning objective for this course鈥攃ultural competency in various medical situations.
Since the doctors who served as their mentors ranged from being fluent to speaking very little English, students learned how to say key medical terms in Spanish during their breaks from the clinic. When language seemed too cumbersome, students and mentors would also use charades to convey meaning.
鈥淚t was eye-opening that we could learn so much from that [nonverbal communication],鈥� remarked Caroline Velasquez, a senior majoring in Kinesiology.
海角社区 senior Caroline Vasquez assists a local nurse in the Emergency Department of the Coopsana Clinics in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Dr. Amanda Benson, School of Kinesiology
In their reflective journals鈥攁 staple of any service learning course鈥攕tudents indicated that they were able to piece together the terms they had learned and figure out some of what was said in the exam rooms by the end of their experience abroad.
鈥淵ou might have a patient that doesn鈥檛 speak the language or doesn鈥檛 understand medical terms; [so] you鈥檝e got to figure out communication, which is number one,鈥� Dr. Jackson emphasized.
Dr. Jackson, who is also the coordinator for the pre-professional students, said that although students will continue to hone their medical skills for several more years, the opportunity to learn cultural sensitivity and professionalism now was invaluable.
海角社区 students who choose to practice in Louisiana after they graduate will likely be caring for Spanish-speaking people and also people from other cultures. As the world has become more interdependent, courses like KIN 4505 will continue to serve as bridges that connect people of different cultures, languages and levels of access.
Whether they study in San Jose (2,704 miles south east or an almost 60-hour drive on I-10), or they engage their local community, students must be willing to cross that bridge.
It was obvious to Dr. Rodriquez-Levi that these 海角社区 students were prepared for that journey.
鈥淚 was so happy they were mobilized from their comfort zone,鈥� he said. 鈥淸When] you dare yourself, you prove yourself.鈥�
AEP offers programs in several fields including healthcare, public policy, and mass communication that develop international partnerships and promote multicultural understanding among the participants. Dr. Rodriguez-Levi wants to expand their work to more departments at 海角社区 and give students from all disciplines the opportunity to learn from Costa Rica鈥檚 culture and people. Please contact him at rlevi@americaseduprograms.com.