So I have decided to write a blog about my travels and experience while doing my Residency in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). I am 6 weeks away from leaving and am staying busy with preparations needed by the US State Dept, Duke and the preceptors in SVG. Since service may be limited for phone calls and texts I am hoping we will have email and I can update my friends and family this way about my journey and experience.
For those who don't know I am doing this as part of my Primary Care residency for NP school at Duke. It will allow me 100 hours in only 4 weeks so that I may double my residency in the summer when I return and finish my NP program a semester early in Aug versus Dec. My residency hours will still be 300 in the summer so I will be moving to PRN, or as needed, working status as I am likely to be away for my residency as that has been the MO so far and with that many hours in only 2.5 months I will be doing mostly M-F everyday to get those hours. That is why this 100 hours was so valuable for me.
So I decided to do this when I read a co-workers blog she is writing while helping with the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. She is far more courageous than me on that front and she is set to return Feb 24th and be quarantined for 2 weeks prior to return to her normal life. I hope she stays safe and that I get to talk with her before I leave to get advice on extended stay in 3rd world countries but it will be close.
While my blog will not be as exciting or gut wrenching, I hope, as hers has been I do hope to share some of he culture, my highs and lows and bare with me as I am sure I will get emotional! How can one embark on a journey such as this and not. I have long wanted to do something of this nature since before RN school and even more when I went into RN school. I could not afford to do so then, but graciously have the support and love of my husband to set out on this experience. He will get to join me for a mini-honeymoon after 4 weeks in which we will stay in SVG for 3 days and then go to Grenada for 3 more before we return home!
So I am preparing also by taking an online SCUBA certification and will then do my dive certification in open water while I am there as we arriving a few days early to meet the clinic staff before they go on their Easter break. We will have 4-5 days off so myself and the other student who is going will be getting our certification on together if she can't get it done in LA before she leaves.
It is amazing the amount of paperwork needed to travel for this. Besides writing an essay and my own culture objectives and submitting a 5 page application, once accepted their is immunizations, USSD clearance student visas and clearance by SVG. There are btw NO direct flights to SVG in case you were thinking on going one day, LOL. You must fly through Port of Spain, POS, (HA not in Spain, but I love the airport code) or Barbados. Both are a 30-40 minute hopper plane flight away from SVG. There are no ferries that go to these island but the Grenadines themselves which has 32 major islands but he whole chain contains 600+ smaller, mostly uninhabited islands. The other student SH, HA same initials :), and I plan on touring several while there on our time off. The clinic is open 800-1600 but many days if not busy can close early so we should have all our eves and weekends free to explore!
Our living situation is the best! We are actually going to live with our preceptors in their homes. This is a huge honor I feel to be accepted into their home and I am looking forward to really seeing the culture this way, including sharing meals with them. My preceptor is a married couple who have no children at home and SH's will have a single mother whose daughter is abroad studying herself I think.
So that's enough for my first post. I am going to try to post once a week on my preparations and my excitement to get used to this blogging thing. Happy reading!
