Kathryn Griffin Reflection – Growing Together in Nicaragua

Kathryn Griffin is a MUSC College of Health Professions student at MUSC. She was awarded a Center for Global Health Student & Trainee Travel Grant in the spring of 2023 to pursue a project with FNE International in Leon, Nicaragua. View more photos of Kathryn's time in Nicaragua in this Flickr photo gallery.

Getting to spend two weeks in Nicaragua was an eye-opening and invaluable experience on so many levels.

During the first week of my time there, I participated in a medical brigade with an organization called Salud Para Todos los Niños (SPTLN – Health for All Children). A group of five U.S.-based pediatricians conducted a clinic for children and families with a variety of health conditions in León. As part of this experience, I had the opportunity to scribe for the team’s neurologist, which was a great way to learn more about the medical discussions and clinical reasoning behind medical management of neurological conditions commonly seen in rehabilitative therapies.

I spent most of my time that week collaborating with, and learning from, a physical medical rehabilitation (PMR) doctor as he evaluated gait, postural control, and adaptive equipment functionality in clients with a variety of diagnoses, including Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, autism, and seizure disorder.

A re-occurring topic that the PMR doctor and I discussed was the differences in functional mobility prognosis for these children as opposed to children with similar conditions in the United States. It was hard to conceptualize and grasp the idea that so much of the preventative and rehabilitative care, as well as access to durable medical equipment I’d taken for granted at home, is just not accessible in a place where it is so needed. It was interesting to work with the PMR doctor as he used low-tech materials, such as pool noodles and PVC pipe to make wheelchair modifications and put together a makeshift walker for one child.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to go to Niño Feliz, the school I’ve been collaborating with via Zoom and RedCap surveys, since June 2021. It was a surreal experience to get to meet with the teachers in person, observe the daily life of the students and teachers, and get to provide an in-person workshop of sensory processing and its influence on the classroom. It was also an opportunity to experience some cultural humility.

For the last year I’d been preparing to do an evaluation plan of the effectiveness of the workshop via RedCap surveys. This included a pre- and post-knowledge assessment on material covered in the workshop. Until I was in the moment, watching teachers complete the surveys, I had not even considered that this survey layout, a mixture of true/false and multiple-choice questions I’ve completed hundreds of times throughout my life, could be such a foreign concept. What I’d originally planned to take 10 minutes took almost 50, and I witnessed first-hand the teacher’s difficulty to complete such a task.

Despite wishing I’d considered this beforehand, watching it play out taught me a meaningful lesson in the importance of cultural sensitivity in planning and preparing for multiple components of a global health initiative. Seeing the school set up and achieving a better understanding of the teacher’s daily responsibilities helped Melissa Turpin, OTD, OTR/L, and one of my capstone mentors, Alyssa Hopun, think more about the development of future projects from an accessibility and sustainability perspective. Getting this in-person experience and face-to-face time made me more excited and hopeful for continued collaboration with FNE International throughout my professional career.

The culmination of things I experienced throughout my two weeks in Nicaragua was such a great component of my OTD Capstone project. Personally, it helped me learn more about global health initiatives, international non-profit management, and the concept and implementation of sustainability. With regards to my Capstone project deliverable, this time in Nicaragua gave me the first-hand experience needed to create resources that are better aligned with the current needs and priorities of teachers at Niño Feliz, something I would’ve missed out on without this opportunity.