Madonna university nursing department partners with Felician sisters mission to provide healthcare to Jacmel, Haiti

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Victoria Marie Indyk

Madonna University, USA

: J Nurs Patient Care

Abstract

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Background: Jacmel, Haiti is an impoverished and underserved state that is affected by many natural disasters, disease and generations of systemic poverty. This rocky, mountainous area lacks running water, basic sanitation, and the people have little money and minimal job opportunities to pay for the basics of health, food, shelter, and education. Aim: The purpose of this study is to assess the needs of Jacmel, Haiti and to show how Madonna University Nursing Department is assisting the Felician Sisters Mission to address these needs. Methods: Utilizing the Leininger’s Sunrise Enabler Model, this study focused on assessing the needs of Jacmel, Haiti and looked at how the Felician Sisters’ Mission in Jacmel have developed programs to meet the pressing needs of this population. Results & Discussions: Results of the study showed that the Madonna University nursing faculty and students are able to assist and provide direct healthcare to the people of Jacmel through the many programs of the Felician Sisters Mission including helping at the Mobile Clinic that provides healthcare to 28 village sites, giving classes on hand washing and disease prevention, dental care instruction, helping at the Soup Kitchen that feeds 50-60 children daily, providing water buckets and filters for the Water Woman Blessing program, and bringing clothes, shoes, and other needed supplies for the Felician Mission.

Biography

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Victoria Marie Indyk, PhD, RN has been a Felician Sister for 48 years. She was born and raised in Detroit and graduated in 1969 from St. Casimir High School in Detroit, MI. Her Madonna University education included earning a BSN (1975) and a MSN (1993). Doctoral studies were at Wayne State University where she earned a PhD in Nursing (2007). She has worked as a Professor of Nursing at Madonna University for the past 20 years and enjoys teaching undergraduate nursing students on all levels. Her Doctoral research was on Osteoporosis in postmenopausal nulliparous women religious. Research also completed on Osteoporosis in veiled Arab Muslim women living in Southeast Michigan and Healthcare Needs In Jacmel, Haiti. She does volunteer services at St. Frances Cabrini Clinic for the poor and United Neighborhood Initiatives in Southwest Detroit. She also has coordinated community health fairs with nursing students at various locations including in Detroit, Farmington Hills, and Livonia, MI. She has a great love and compassion for the people of Haiti. She travels to Jacmel, Haiti three times per year for Mission Trips and has completed 9 trips with nursing students and faculty from Madonna University to help with healthcare and outreach programs at the Felician Sisters Mission in Jacmel, Haiti.