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Noon Rotary aids nursing students' trip to Korea
May 5, 2005 | |||||
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KOKOMO, Ind.—The Kokomo Noon Rotary Club is helping provide the “wind beneath the wings” of the airplane that will carry four local nursing students to the Republic of (South) Korea on May 12. The Rotarians awarded individual $125 grants to Indiana University Kokomo students Kristina Fredrick of Indianapolis, Kristin Stahlke of Fishers, Elena Tansy of Kokomo, and Leigh Brodie of Peru to assist with their transportation cost. Additionally, each student received a $500 scholarship from the IU Kokomo Office of International Programs, also covering transportation. From May 12–26, the four students and Lecturer in Nursing Lucy Tormoehlen will participate in classes at Margaret Pritchard University (MPU), a nursing school in the Korean city of Jeonju, and visit several national historic and cultural sites. IU Kokomo and Margaret Pritchard have exchanged students and faculty for the past five years, and the Indiana faculty helped the Korean institution develop its first bachelor's degree program. MPU professor Yin Joon, Ph.D., served as a visiting faculty member on the Kokomo campus for the 2004–2005 academic year. The Noon Rotary Club learned about the exchange program when its coordinator Linda Wallace, Ed.D., brought nine visiting MPU students and their professor to a club meeting in February. Rotarian and IU Professor Emeritus Herbert Miller, Ph.D. hosted the visitors. Noon Rotary Club President Nancy Madru explained that Rotarians around the globe commit themselves to service within their own communities, as well as “seek ways to connect ourselves to other parts of the world. “When Linda's request for funding came to us, we realized this was an opportunity for service both here and afar,” Madru said. “The IU Kokomo students will have the ability to compare and contrast our country and culture with another. Their appreciation of home and our own culture will grow, as will their appreciation, knowledge, and respect of the Korean culture.” With more than 70 percent of IU Kokomo alumni residing and working in north central Indiana after earning degrees, such student cultural exchanges can have a lasting benefit for the region, Madru believes. “Patients are individuals, and these young caregivers will gain great insight to the likenesses and differences in humans by visiting this diverse culture,” Madru said. Wallace, an associate professor of nursing at IU Kokomo, agrees. To be eligible for the trip, students had to complete a spring semester course on Korean Health Care and Culture taught by Yoon and Wallace. During the trip, they will observe at Korean hospitals and clinics, getting a chance to see how traditional herbal remedies of that country complement western medicine, and how Korean respect for family and societal harmony affect health care practices, Wallace said. Also, the American students will—likely for the first time—“be immersed in a society that speaks another language, eats different foods, and follows other health care practices.” The trip can engender understanding in the future nurses for the similar “outsider” experiences of patients from the United States' growing immigrant and non-English speaking populations, Wallace said. “And, the trip will help our students grow in self-confidence.” Kokomo Early Risers Rotarians have expressed interest in contacting Rotary Clubs near Jeonju “and seeing if a more substantial exchange” between the two communities might be arranged, Wallace said. Noon Rotary Club also supports the Rotary International fund for polio eradication, a Kenyan school, and the Gift of Life program that brought young Qudrat Ullah from Afghanistan to Indiana for heart surgery. Along with the Early Risers Rotary Club, Noon Rotary is hosting a Rotary Youth Exchange student from Mexico, a junior at Northwestern High School. “Paul Harris founded Rotary 100 years ago on the principle that we can accomplish so much more together than any one of us can alone,” said Madru. “Our club's members believe and practice this principle.” For more information on IU Kokomo School of Nursing programs, visit www.iuk.edu/nursing or call (765) 455-9288.
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