MUNCIE, Ind. -- Ball State nursing students and teachers will provide health care to rural areas of Jamaica March 7-21.

Kathy Russell, associate professor of nursing, leads the group of 12 students who, with instructor Susan Everhart, will work in Westmoreland Health District in the southwestern part of the Caribbean island nation.

"This is the first experience for the School of Nursing to provide direct nursing care in an international setting," Russell said. "We wanted to take students to an English-speaking country not too far away."

Anthropology professor James Coffin, director of Ball State’s Center for International Programs, recommended Jamaica. Coffin also co-directs Ball State’s ethnographic field school in Jamaica.

While in Jamaica recently, Coffin obtained nursing licenses for the registered nurse participants. The group includes seven graduate students who are registered nurses.

The group will assist in home visits with public health nurses and will see patients in local health centers. They will provide pre-natal care, newborn and child assessments, immunizations and health education.

"Jamaica has many of the same health problems we have including obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease," Russell said. "It’s a very poor, underdeveloped country, so there are also children suffering from dehydration and malnutrition. There also are problems with tuberculosis and sickle-cell anemia."

Through Coffin’s efforts, the students will have an opportunity to visit with a Rastafarian community and traditional healers. They will also bring donated medical supplies.

The project is supported by a grant from Ball State’s International Programs Endowment Fund.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information about this story contact Kathy Russell at (765) 285-5572 or krussell@bsu.edu.)