Supporting Nurse's Training for Women in Guatemala

2024 Successes

Sandra

Sandra dreamed of going into the medical field, and a Kateri Healthcare Scholarship provided the financial help she needed to continue her studies.

Despite this, the road was not smooth for Sandra. Her young son faced health challenges that added stress and worry to her family. At times she wanted to give up on her education, but program mentor Karyn Choy worked with her to provide encouragement and moral support.

In 2024, Sandra graduated from the nursing program. She is now ready to work in this field. She dreams of opening her own pharmacy, helping to support the health and well-being of the wider community while also providing for her own family.

"I thank you so much for your support of my studies," she says. "It encourages me to keep moving forward and fighting for my dream."

 Sandra's sucess is what your donations support.  Her smiling face is what success looks like.

We are beginning our end of ther year campaign.  Our goal is $12,000.  A donation now will support our program for 2025.  We had 77 young women apply for scholarships.  We only have four openings.  There is a need far beyond what we can fill from present funding.  A donation will help us expand our program to help more young women lacking the resources they need meet their goal like Sandra!.

Karyn Choy, mentor to the Healthcare participants, gathered 2024 participants for an exchange of experience and support on July 14. The program includes both current students and those who have graduated from their nurses training. Karyn is continuing to mentor the students who have finished their studies to help them adjust to problems they are meeting in their work roles. The program has grown from three to six scholarship recipients this year.  They each introduced themselves and told about their experience with the program and where they are in their studies.  

Karyn led a training on self care for nurses.  As nursing is a demanding profession, it is important to know how to care for yourself as well as for your patients.  She talked about the physical, emotional, and social signs tthat warn you that you are facing burn out.  She shared activities that the young women can do when they detect the warning signs.

The activities are not only important for self care but can be used to support family members, and friends.  The young women made a list of the self care actions that they can begin to implement.  They made cards with a picture of the self care activity they committed themselves to as a reminder to have in front of them daily.

To end the day they wrote messages of encouragement for each other to promote a circle of support that they can call on when they encounter difficult moments in their career and personal life.  As you can see from the smiling faces in their picture they left feeling a close community.

Your support for this program is giving these young women the tools they need to confront all the obstacles they meet to reaching the better life they seek for themselves and their community.