Ashland University College of Nursing faculty
member Cindy Dowds MS, RN, OCN was in Tegucigalpa, Honduras March 4th– 10th, 2012
with Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) in conjunction with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) to teach
oncology nursing. Her fellow team members were Dr. Barbara Wise from the
National Cancer Institute and Dr. Robert Donohue from the University of
Colorado. Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere
with a high incidence of late-stage cancers. Honduran nurses have limited
resources and no formal training in oncology care.
Cindy and
Dr. Wise presented 12 bilingual lectures at the 2nd HVO/ASCO/HGSF
2012 Oncology Nursing Conference at the Hotel Plaza San Martin. Medical
students served as translators. Topics presented by Cindy were: Principles of
Chemotherapy; Safe Handling of Chemotherapy; Chemotherapy Administration;
Nausea, Vomiting, & Mucositis; Tumor Lysis Syndrome; and Spinal Cord
Compression.
Cindy and
Dr. Wise presented nurse leaders from the two major public hospitals in Tegucigalpa
with a copy of Casciato’s “Manual of Clinical Oncology” in Spanish, a
three-ring binder of chemotherapy administration, patient education, and
symptom management guidelines, a three-ring binder of journal articles with
instructions for starting a simple journal club, and a pink stethoscope for the
outpatient oncology units.
Following
the conference, Cindy spent three days working in the hospitals with the
oncology nurses and collecting data for HVO. Despite the language barrier, the
small oncology team was embraced by the Honduran people and their fellow health
care professionals. Cindy believes there is nothing more sustainable than
education and she left Honduras feeling blessed and honored to have been a part
of this team. She hopes to return to Honduras with HVO in the near future.
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| Cindy Dowds (middle) |
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