Dancing, Bricks and Lizard Tea…

As evidenced by this post, we are still alive notwithstanding last night’s misadventures. And we have only gotten lost once during the two days we have been on St. Croix, which is fairly impressive given our track record. The overall absence of roads signs was initially concerning, but we are learning how to navigate using landmarks and our drivers have adjusted completely to driving on the left side of the road. That might be problematic when we return to Baltimore….

So what are we doing here? I don’t think anyone of us fully realized the significance of being part of the St. Croix public health group. It means being part of a long and beautiful friendship with the people here. The residents at Flamboyant Gardens knew us by sight as the students from Hopkins nursing and asked about students from preceding cohorts by name.

At Flamboyant Gardens, Alex and Emily received their first lesson in Bush medicine by a very gracious resident. Dill is an anti-inflammatory, the “insulin” plant will treat your diabetes and lemongrass should be used sparingly in bush tea. And an all natural blood pressure treatment is a bush tea that involves boiling geckos. There is something in the gecko’s skin that is a smooth muscle relaxant, according to our report from Janzie Allmancher.

Attending the ASN Pinning ceremony at the University of the Virgins Islands-St. Croix inspired several requests regarding our own pinning. Namely, we want to dance too. And future lecturers should borrow Ms. Annie Henry’s, the nurse entrepreneur who was the guest speaker, substantial attention-grabbing prop when lecturing on the state of our health care system. Yes, it was a brick.

The following was compiled based on the experiences of the UVI and JHU students:

Universal Truths Regarding Nursing School…

1. Sleep is optional.
2. When necessary, sleeping on desks using books as pillows works out fine.
3. Chocolate solves everything.
4. That’s all you need to remember from nutrition.
5. We all know the limitations of the human mind in absorbing information before exams, we just choose to ignore them.
6. We have all thought of giving up at one time.
7. Some one was always there to tell us we could make it through

…And that person often was a five year old.

Congratulations to the UVI class of 2014.