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Wednesday, July 20, 2011Ogard returns from Vietnam with a broader view of the worldKari Ogard, a 2008 Frazee graduate, shared a moment with a child at an orphanage in Da Nang Vietnam during a recent trip.Ogard and the other students rode elephants around a village and through a lake in Vietnam.• by Barbie Porter Kari Ogard, Frazee, was prepared for culture shock when she visited Vietnam, but not for the heat. “It was hotter than I could have ever imagined,” she said. “I thought we had hot summers here in Minnesota, but it was nothing compared to the heat and humidity of Vietnam. I was also pleasantly surprised at how friendly and pro-American the people were.” The trip abroad was part of Ogard’s community health nursing class through Concordia College, Moorhead where she is majoring in nursing and minoring in religion. During the month-long educational excursion Ogard noticed a big cultural difference when it came to religion, as most Vietnamese are Buddhists. Ogard noted followers of Buddha are evident by an abundance of pagodas (or places to worship), small shrines to give offerings and the presence of religious symbols. “It was nearly impossible to distinguish the culture from religion since it is so deeply imbedded into daily ways of life,” Ogard noted. Another obvious difference is politics. Vietnam, which is a communist country, has ample banners with government slogans on every street. “It was sometimes difficult to get straight answers when we asked questions about sensitive topics, like feelings about the government, voting rules, disease rates, etc.,” Ogard said. “Depending on the person and the setting, we would either get the government approved response or, if we were lucky, we got the candid honest answer.” Healthcare was also a bit of a culture shock for Ogard, particularly the absence of privacy laws. “When we visited hospitals, one patient would be getting his or her exam done while the next two or three people in line waited in the same room,” she explained. “Additionally, patients cannot access their own health records and are not told their medical diagnoses, they are simply told ‘take this medicine’ or ‘come back for surgery.’” Ogard noted that social norm would be a far-fetched idea in a country where patients have a bill of rights. “It was an eye opening experience,” Ogard continued. “As far as nursing is concerned, nurses in Vietnam have a very different role than nurses in the U.S. Since family members of hospital patients are expected to bring food to the hospital and do much of the patient care, this is not a role of the nurse in Vietnam. Training is more focused on skills rather than patient communication and education.” Ogard noted the experience overall will help her careerwise, particularly when it comes to recognizing and respecting a patient’s cultural differences. “It made me very appreciative of what we have at home and definitely made me realize no matter how much we think our country is failing, we have it pretty good,” Ogard said.Ogard visits operating rooms and orphanages Da Nang was where the students from Concordia had the opportunity to do nursing assessments. Ogard said the students were divided into groups of three and rotated to different sites each day. The first stop for Ogard’s group was a tour of Da Nang Women’s Hospital where group members saw ultrasounds, labor/deliveries and some were even were allowed in the operating room for a C-section. The next day her group visited an orphanage for kids 5 to 20. The students worked with the kids to complete health histories, such as immunization records, recording height and weight, vision and hearing screening, and checked heart, lungs, abdomen and the musculoskeletal on each child. As part of Concordia’s coursework, Ogard also taught an education portion about hand washing and disease prevention to the kids. The third site visited in Da Nang was a home for unwed mothers and their children. Ogard explained in Vietnam when a child is born to an unwed mother the child is not given a birth certificate, nor do they receive any government assistance. The Concordia students completed assessments of those in the group home and chatted with the mothers about “anything and everything.” “It was interesting but a little sad to hear the women’s stories,” Ogard said. The last day in Da Nang the Concordia students rose with the sun and had a Tai Chi class on the beach before spending the morning relaxing at the waterfront. In can Tho, Ogard had the opportunity to tour nursing and pharmacy schools. “We even went to the university to celebrate National Nurses Day with the Vietnamese nursing students,” Ogard said. “They were thrilled and gave us celebrity treatment.”History and different ways of life found in mountains and on rivers In Ho Chi Minh City, one of the biggest and most modern places in Vietnam, the Concordia students visited monuments and museums. They visited the infamous Reunification Palace, which was the former residence of the South Vietnamese president. They also went to the War Remnants museum which had several floors of displays about the U.S.-Vietnamese conflict. The group visited the Notre Dame cathedral of Saigon; an Herbal Medicine Museum and the Mont Lucon orphanage. In the Mekong Delta they experienced what life was like with floating markets where locals sold products, such as fruits and vegetables, out of boats. “They advertised what they are selling by hanging one on top of a bamboo pole like a flag,” Ogard explained. In Hue the students experienced river life once again by taking a boat ride on the Perfume River, right up to one of the many beautiful pagodas found in Vietnam. “We also got to see the Imperial City from the Nguyen dynasty, as well as tombs built for former emperors,” she said. When Ogard arrived in Da Lat she said there was a “different feel” than from other cities they’d visited. “It was built high up in the mountains so it is much cooler than the lowlands,” she said. “It was built as a getaway vacation spot for the French, so it had a lot of European style architecture.” Ogard noted she also learned no combat took place in Da Lat during the Vietnam War. “We visited one of the large pagodas and monasteries of the city, as well as going to the Pasteur Museum which again shows the heavy French influence in the country,” she said. The next stop came after driving six hours down a mountain and into the town of Buon Me Thuot. She noted the ride was tough, but well worth it because when they arrived the next mode of transportation was on the backs of elephants. “It was definitely one of the big highlights of the trip,” she said. Elephants were used to help with working in the field, and the students were allowed to ride the animals around the village and even across a nearby lake. “The elephants were up to their eyes in water,” Ogard recalled. The students also hiked through Yokdon National Park where herds of water buffalo and cows roamed. “Our guide was able to show us different plants growing in the forest and tell us the medical ways they could be used,” Ogard said. “Our last day we visited the Draynur and Draysap waterfalls, a group of gorgeous waterfalls with lots of hiking trails. One night we were also treated to traditional gong music by one of the smaller ethnic groups in the village and drank ceremonial rice wine with them.” The trip left an impact on Ogard and she wanted to thank the organization that funds the Da Nang orphanage and unwed mothers’ home (called Father’s House). She reported donations for the organization can be made at givingitbacktokids.org.  Read more...