Arriving in Iloilo

January 21st-24th, 2010

We've made it to Iloilo save and sound after our brief relaxtion period in El Nido. Sister Carol and the rest of St. Paul's University (SPU) has welcomed us into the community with open arms and hearts. We have spent the last few days becoming acquainted with not only the students and faculty, but also the community at large.

January 21st
We were invited to dinner with the Sister's of St. Paul's and had the chance to try several Filipino dishes, including delicious Mango ice cream. We also met our "buddy" students, who we will be partnered with throughout our community immersion in Janiuay next week. The students include: John Paul (J.P), Arielle, Tanya, Jovan, Stella, Kaye, Clecile, Irina, Diane, and Valerie. Faculty who are aiding in the facilitation of this experience include, Ruby Ann Duguesa, Maria Thelma Servidad, Dulce Ma Tilos, Vanessa Traje, and Ma Lalaine Nolasce, and of course Sister's of St. Paul's. We also joined the company of Dr. Ryan Meili and Dr. Mahli Brindamour, both affiliated with the University Saskatchewan and will be participating in our Janiuay experience.


January 22nd
The day began with visits to various local community members. Susan R. Cuevas (RN, MN, Nurse VI) informed us about several nutrition initiatives within the Iloilo community. A quick visit to the Department of Health allowed us to meet Ariel L. Valencia (M.D), the current Regional Health Officer. The DOH is in charge of various initiatives, which adhere to WHO standards, such as DOTS, HIV/AIDS program, and immunization/vaccination clinics. The DOH is highly focused on outreach programs and increasing healthcare access for Iloilo's growing population. While visiting the DOH we were able to tour the cold room, where they store the vaccinations according to WHO standards.

We met the Governor of Iloilo, Neil D. Tupas SR, who welcomed us to the community and provided us with tickets to the Dinagyang Fiesta 2010. This fiesta is celebrated every fourth weekend of January to honor the Christianization of the natives and to respect the Holy Child Jesus.

In the afternoon we traveled to Janiuay (an hour outside of Iloilo) to tour the community. This involved visiting the staff house (our home for next week) and Dr. Bienvenido P. Margarico, mayor of Janiuay.

January 23rd
We were orientated to St. Paul's College of Nursing and their BSN curriculum. The aim of their program is to develop values, attitudes, knowledge and skills. St. Paul's nursing students also encompass the competencies of a caring, creative, contemplative, critical, and collegial nurse. Throughout this orientation we noted several similarities between both the St.Pau'ls BSN program and the U of S BSN program. Although both programs are span over four years the St. Paul's nursing students enter a common freshman program consisting of generalized classes before they offically enter the nursing program. This means they have the opportunity to "soul search" before commiting to becoming a nurse. Another key difference we noted between the two programs was that St. Paul's nursing students have the opportunity to act as charge nurse on a ward, in their fourth year, to apply knowledge and theory acquired in their management and leadership course. We felt this would be a useful within our own program, as it helps to clarify nursing responsibilities and further develop management/organizational skills.

In the afternoon we had a presentation on IMCI (Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses). This is a strategy developed by WHO to aid developing countries in treating childhood illnesses within outpatient settings (WHO, 2008). The program has two main objectives: 1) Decrease the global mortality and morbidity rates of children and 2) Increase healthy growth and development of children worldwide. It is currently being utilized by Iloilo community health nurses, and the nursing students of St. Paul's University, to help treat children suffering acute respiratory infections, fever, diarrhea, ear problems and malnutrition.

"Every year in the world's developing countries, approximately 12 million children under the age of 5 die of illnesses that have been controlled or overcome by developed countries" (SciELO Public Health, 1997). Considering the Philippines is a developing nation this tool is very helpful within the community of Iloilo, which continues to experiecence high numbers of childhood mortality and morbidity. The IMCI trains nurses in basic assessment and classification of common childhood illnesses within the region. Physicians are therefore not required to do the initial assessment and have time to deal with a greater number of cases. The IMCI follows a case management process which allows the nurse to assess, classify, identify treatment options, treat/refer to physician, counsel, and follow-up. (Somewhat resembling the nursing process).

Learning about this classification tool was very helpful and informative, as it is used to identify many illnesses not commonly seen in Canada. This includes illnesses such as malaria, measles, typhoid, dengue, pertussis and dysentry. We are looking forward to putting this new knowledge into practice while in Januiay in the upcoming week and will be having several debriefing sessions to discuss our observations regarding exposure to such diseases. The knowledge we have obtained from this experience has been beneficial to all of us and we will be able to apply it in future nursing practice, regardless of the setting.

January 24th
Sister Carol kindly extended an invitation to St. Paul's Sunday Morning Mass, which we accepted. Following mass, we were able to attend the Dinagyang Fiesta tribal dance competition. It was an amazing experience which allowed us to observe several traditional tribes from Iloilo area. As more and more tribes from Barangays, schools, and nearby towns and provinces participate, the contest has become more competitive in terms of costumes, choreography, and sounds.

Top picture: U of S Nursing Students with Sister Carol

Middle picture: St. Paul's and U of S Nursing Students and Faculty

Bottom picture : Dancers at the Dinagyang Fiesta 2010