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Nursing is in her genes |
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Graduate and Symons Medal winner Barbara Longland comes from a long line of nurses, and is now married to one. She too had wanted to pursue the profession since she was five. Though she tried to go back to school in 1990, as a single mother with four children, she found it too difficult. Instead, she started a residential cleaning business, which she continues to manage today. While she describes the transition she went through in 2001 to go back to school "overwhelming," Ms. Longland finds herself a changed person, due in part, to the time she spent this year in Zimbabwe for her individual practice placement. She spent a shortened seven weeks at the Salvation Army's Howard Hospital in Zimbabwe in January and found a culture and conditions she says "you can hardly imagine". Aside from the lack of electricity, gas, food and money in Zimbabwe, Ms. Longland found the conditions at the hospital to be "deplorable" - rat infested and filthy. She worked mainly in the neonatal ward, but also spent some time in labour and delivery, where close to one-third of the mothers were HIV-positive. There is little prenatal care, and women are afraid to be tested for HIV - if they test positive, they are thrown out of their villages. And this 145-bed hospital is also incredibly short staffed - many of the nurses were HIV-positive themselves and were either dying or looking after ill family members and orphans. Ms. Longland's time in Zimbabwe was cut short when she tried to renew her visa and was given three weeks to leave the country due to political instability related to an upcoming election. "In retrospect, I'm glad I went. I did not feel safe the whole time I was there," said Ms. Longland. "It has opened doors for me and it's given me an understanding of the strength of the human spirit I don't think I ever would have known." This summer, Ms. Longland is heading to Guyana for two weeks with the Mission for Advancing Theological Education/Friends Committed To Caring, to nurse in hospitals, rural clinics and schools. As well, she hopes that an upcoming interview and site visit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will land her the job of her dreams; to work full-time in neonatal intensive care unit. During her visit to Zimbabwe, she realized her calling was to work with newborns. "People say that little babies can't communicate, but it's so untrue. They need strong advocates too." Ms. Longland graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing as a member of the first class of the Trent-Fleming Nursing collaborative four-year program. Posted June 29, 2005
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