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vaccinated, registering for visas and learning to say “hello” in Bengali. Beard calls the group a “dream team.” The three com-


bined have more than 100 years of nursing experience and have volunteered in places like Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Uganda, Turkmenistan and Swaziland. The thought of spending three weeks in a different part of the world—even in a hot, humid, developing part—was appealing for all of them. “One way to raise the standard of health care in a country


is to educate nurses,” Beard says. “In Bangladesh, many peo- ple are poor—but poverty doesn’t equal stupidity. Poverty equals poverty. When you can build a school of nursing and educate a nurse, you are providing health care for thousands of people.”


W


orking with Husain provided constant inspi- ration. The physician and professor, now 72, has developed a network of clinics across the country, and his dream is to eradicate unnec-


essary blindness. “We were in awe of him and how much he has accom-


plished,” Holdwick says. “He’s just brilliant.” He is also smart enough to know that he doesn’t have a


strong background in nursing. The Eye Infirmary doesn’t have nurses, using instead paraprofessional-type workers to do some of the more basic nursing tasks. That’s why Husain invited Holdwick, Beard and Tanicala, and then gave them everything they needed to be successful. For Tanicala, it was the first time in all of her years of international work that she was given the resources to actually do the job she was there to do. As a completely unexpected bonus, they also had comfort-


able accommodations that included an Internet connection and air conditioning. The group dug in quickly. Beard went to the capital city


of Dhaka and met with the Ministry of Education, while Tanicala and Holdwick stayed in Chittagong and began work- ing on infrastructure, writing job descriptions, and meet- ing with administrators at other regional nursing schools. Students in Bangladesh are required to live in hostels, so job descriptions for hostel employees were also needed. All three women visited hospitals and village clinics and looked for ways to collaborate with other health care providers. The trio’s full plan and recommendations, which were


submitted to Global Health Services Network after the three- week visit, call for an initial class of 50 students. Two full- time positions will be needed to start—a principal and a vice principal—and science courses like anatomy and physiology and pharmacology will be taught by practicing physicians.


Professors from the University of Chittagong, the institution that will actually be conferring the degrees, will teach general education classes. Eventually, as enrollment grows, the school will need 12-15 faculty members and will most likely rely on visiting lecturers. Despite the country’s abundant population and desper-


ate need for nurses, the new school of nursing will face some student recruitment challenges. Forty percent of Bengali children drop out of school too soon to be fully prepared for difficult nursing coursework, so the pool of candidates will likely come from middle- to upper-class families. By the terms of the plan, five percent of the student body must be from the underserved population, and there is also a restric- tion on foreign students. Then there is religion. “Because it’s primarily a Muslim country, Bengladeshi


women traditionally don’t work after they’re married, and they don’t leave their homes at night,” says Tanicala. “And they would never do something like bathe a man.” The group is confident, however, that these challenges can


be overcome. The need for nurses is great, and all interested parties have already demonstrated a strong will to work together to find solutions. As Beard explains, starting a school of nursing is “not a handout—it’s a partnership.” Tanicala attributes the success of the trip to one thing:


mutual respect between the visit team and Husain’s group. Tanicala, Beard and Holdwick actively listened to their coun- terparts and learned what they could about Bangladeshi cul- ture. They shaped their plan to fit the needs of the country, not trying to force a plan more suitable for a U.S. population. Then there was the laughter, and it was abundant. The


three women had never traveled together before, but their different yet good-natured personalities helped sustain them when they were hot, or tired, or not feeling well. Two of them would hit the proverbial wall and the third would reenergize the group. No one had a meltdown. They didn’t take them- selves too seriously. They found humor in the smallest things, and they were buoyed by the fact that they were making a difference. They looked around and didn’t see a country with horrific circumstances. They saw smiling, friendly people and unwavering hope. That is the memory that will stay with them. Holdwick left Bangladesh with another indelible impres-


sion. “It affirmed for me how people around the world are more alike than different,” she says. “We have language bar- riers, but we all want the same thing. We want our children to be happy and healthy and independent and to have high self-esteem. And we want good health care in our countries. How we approach that is the same.” 3


Eastern | WINTER 2011 23


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