TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa nurse and many others are taking a trip 1,000 miles away for a special mission.
Maria Giddarie is used to challenges.
She worked through the dangerous conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, constantly worrying about exposing her family to the virus. She caught COVID-19 three times.
Now, she's preparing for her latest challenge.
"It's going to be hot. We're going to be in scrubs. We have to protect ourselves; there's going to be a lot of bugs, insects, the sun is going to be on us," said Giddarie.
Giddarie, a master's student in the nurse practitioner program at the University of Tampa, will join a group of fellow nursing students on a medical mission trip to the Dominican Republic.
Dr. Robin White, the director of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at UT, is leading the way.
"So our goal is to really take care of the people in the barrios, which are the small villages in the rural areas," said Dr. White.
They'll travel to places where the need is the greatest, setting up shop in the toughest conditions.
"The conditions with regards to toiletry—there are none," Giddarie said. "So we have to learn we have to bring our own supplies that we need to use our bathroom. Their bathroom is a hole in the ground."
Their mobile clinic becomes a lifeline for people in need.
"One time, we even had our clinic on the porch, our pharmacy in a chicken coop," Dr. White said. "So yeah, the sky's the limit. We really take each individual barrio, and we turn it into a healthcare clinic. And sometimes, we'll enter a town, and there might be 100 people in line ready to be seen."
This will be Dr. White's 15th medical mission trip.
"The first time that I went 15 years ago, I never intended it to be an annual trip. But it was so life-changing for me that I felt that it needed to be opened up to students," she said.
Each student pays his or her own way and is responsible for collecting donations.
"Very simple things, like children's vitamins, adult vitamins, prenatal vitamins, we see a lot of pregnant females," Dr. White said. "We tried to give everyone a month's supply, and pregnant females, a two-month supply of vitamins, over-the-counter medications such as ibuprofen and Tylenol, all different creams."
"I'm very excited. Get to know I'm going to be doing good things and, you know, we as a family who really believe in the power of altruism and philanthropy. I just want to keep instilling that in our family and just keep pushing through because it's important to give back," says Giddarie.
If you'd like to help, Giddarie has setup a GoFundMe for the trip.
