University of South Carolina Upstate Blogs

Study Abroad Ecuador

Hello Everyone!!!

We as USC Upstate family should be very proud of our Ecuador team! We have provided screenings already in a Kids Club,  “old folks home”, Quito Dump, and an area of South Quito, and participated in a feeding program. We have served over 300+ with our screenings. Each person (and a few extra people) have each received a package containing vitamins, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, and other assorted items. Whew!!!

Additionally, we have enjoyed guest speakers: missionary doctors, medical caravan leaders, international school nurse, a tour of the local mission hospital, and many new foods! Tomorrow we leave for the rural western coast of Ecuador. Our bus trip will take us from the high mountains in Quito to the rural coastal area.

Today at our screening we were able to provide much needed hematocrit screening the participants. One of our participants needed this screening for part of her pregnancy follow up. We were able to provide the service for free and save her $5 of money she does not have. We have so many stories to share. There has not been a day when one or all of us has been moved to tears over stories, situations, or sites we have seen.

Please follow along with another site where we are able to post our pictures much easier: http://viveecuador2010.shutterfly.com/

Dr. Julie Moss

Study Abroad Ecuador

We have just created a new site so you can enjoy Ecuador along with us too! Please feel free to visit our site to get access of pictures of us in Ecuador!

http://viveecuador2010.shutterfly.com/

Study Abroad Ecuador

It is Tuesday morning, and our day has begun! Our last two days were fun filled with screening and site seeing! On Sunday we attended English Fellowship Church. Afterwards, we went to Pan de Vida (Bread of Life), where we served meals to over 140 people! And then we had very delicious meal at Bom Cafe. Following our meal, we went to the city of Quito to ride on the Teleferico (Cable Car). Here, we were approximately 14,000 feet above sea level! We were able to see amazing views of the mountains and the city of Quito. On Monday, we had our first guest speakers, Dr. Steve Nelson and Ian McFarland. They discussed with us about medical missions in Ecuador and their purpose here. We then went to Hogar de Ancianos Betania (Old Folks Home). Here, we completed health screenings on the elderly and the workers at the home. We also provided hand and nail care for the elderly. The day ended with a trip to the mall where we had a taste of Ecuadorian food at the food court and shopped. Today we will be having a school nurse speak to us. After this, we plan to go to Zambiza Dump to do screenings and play with the kids. We also hope to prepare and serve meals to the Dump workers. Here comes another adventurous day! Stay tuned!

Study Abroad Ecuador

YES! We made it safe and sound in Ecuador! We were actually the last flight to arrive at the airport in Ecuador and all other flights were canceled due to weather conditions! We all got our luggage and made it through customs and immigration with no problems at all! On Saturday, we started the day with breakfast and then the adventure began! We had our first screening event for kids. This was a great turnout. We screened over 100 people! Afterwards, we were invited for a home-cooked meal by one our hosts, Sonia and Javier’s house. Our day ended with a trip to Downtown Quito where we visited many local shops and got a taste of nightlife in Ecuador! We definitely had one productive and exciting day and look forward to the many more to come!

Study Abroad Ecuador

We are all checked in at CLT airport and ready to go! From here, we will arrive in Atlanta where we hope to depart in the evening! We are all anxiously waiting to arrive in the land of Ecuador! Stay tuned for more information!

Study Abroad Ecuador

Welcome to the Study Abroad Ecuador blog! The International Community Health Nursing class invites you to follow along as we experience the sights, sounds, and tastes of Ecuador. We are just weeks away from take off and are very excited! We depart on July 16th and will return on July 28th. During our stay in Ecuador, we will be fulfilling a portion of our nursing requirements, Community Health Nursing. Our trip includes community health experiences in metropolitan Quito and very rural Tos Agua. Throughout our stay in Ecuador, we will be presenting various community health teaching projects regarding the importance of maintaining good health, performing pediatric and adult screenings and much more! We have been given many donations from the university family and the community at large. We are looking forward to distributing the donations to the program participants. Of course, no trip is without adventure. We are glad you will be following along. Vive Ecuador!!