Peruvian Adventures!

I had such an incredible time doing the medical volunteer program through Maximo. My group only spent 10 days in Peru, and did a week long volunteer project, but I feel like I got so much out of the experience. Several fellow nursing students and I spent five days working at the Centro de Salud in Chinchero. We really got to put our skills to the test - taking vitals, administering injections, doing wound care, assisting with prenatal and well child check ups, working in triage, and sharpening our Spanish skills. Kristi was our coordinator and she did an excellent job! Dina, the coordinator specifically for the medical sites, visited us every day and made sure we had what we needed. She is a Peruvian nurse and was very helpful in teaching us the ins and outs of the Peruvian medical system. In spite of our short visit, we also were able to travel and explore quite a bit. One perk of Maximo is they seamlessly partner with American Inca tourism agency; they're even in the same building. We took all our trips through them and had a blast. Even though I accidentally drove my ATV into a cactus (I really don't recommend doing that), I had an incredible time in Peru and can't wait to go back. The Maximo team provided excellent support for getting my (many, many) cactus wounds checked out, and set up an appointment for me with an English-speaking, Maximo-affiliated physician. I was extremely well taken care of. I plan to do another (hopefully longer) trip with Maximo when I am a registered nurse in a couple months and can contribute even more.