NSCC International

Day 1: With great excitement, we got the chance to meet Dr. Lambert today at his clinic in the city of Puerto Plata. Having an opportunity to be immersed in the culture around the area and be exposed to the language, atmosphere, and social dynamics of the people has been incredibly interesting. Speaking with Dr. Lambert about his vision for the lab is fascinating and getting to measure the space and visualize what it could become makes the goal for our project that much clearer. All of these things have truly made the trip so far a fulfilling experience and the rest of the week will be life changing!

Day 2: Another incredible day on the trip! We had the chance to visit Dr Lambert’s clinc in the Batey, walk around a bit of the area, even getting to meet a class full of school children who were learning 4 languages, Spanish, English ,French and Creole. This is a great asset for these children as it gives them an opportunity to work in places in Puerto Plata where fluency of languages is important.
This experience motivates me to pursue becoming more multi-lingual, to be able to better communicate when travelling to other countries.

Day 3: It was a great experience to visit a private lab, Coste Norde, today. The lab manager was friendly, energetic and ready to explain the origins of their establishment as well as their plans to expand the operation to include more testing.

The people here are incredibly friendly. They have welcomed us into their workplaces with open arms. Sadly, I can't say for certain that the same mentality is shared in a lot of workplaces in Canada. I feel as though I've gained appreciation for the importance of being positive and the impact it can have on the people around you.

Brett Smith
Medical Laboratory Technology Student
NSCC, Waterfront Campus

Day 1: After 32 hours of travelling and 3 flights later, we finally made it to the Dominican Republic yesterday. The view while landing was beautiful, the terrain was very mountainous and full of lush greenery. Today we met Dr. Lambert and were shown to the space that we were to design a lab for. While we originally, thought it would be a small lab, we learned today that it potentially be the largest hospitals in Puerto Plata. This change of plans was a bit overwhelming, yet also very exciting. Part of being a medical laboratory technician is being flexible and adaptable. We have already gotten to put these qualities to the test twice during this trip, during our flight change and the change of location and size of our lab design, and we have done so successfully. I look forward to the exciting opportunities in the future and challenges yet to come!

Day 2: oday we went to Dr Lambert’s clinic in Con Greyho (spelling?)
We were able to watch patients being treated and then went for a walk through the village. We were invited into a small school amd met children and teachers. The children were being taught Spanish, English,French and Creole. The children were all very happy and polite and I wanted to be able to communicate with them. There was difinetly a language barrier there and I wished that I had time to learn Spanish before coming here. One of my new goals when I get home is to brush up on my French and Spanish.

Day 3: today we got to visit a private lab in the DR. It was a last minute change to go to this lab instead of another, but the lab director was extremely nice and welcoming. We got a tour of the lab and we were able to ask a lot of questions to aid in our lab design project. We learned a few important things that we had not thought of since we are not familiar with the testing and supply availability in this area, such as including a media preparation room since it is very expensive to buy here. The main think I noticed though was the amount of similarities between the labs here and those at home, especially when it comes to safety and quality. I am excited to use the knowledge I gained today to better our lab design.

Mallory Kennedy
Medical Laboratory Technology Student
NSCC, Waterfront Campus

Day 1: We went to briefly City Laboratory to meet Dr. Lambert who was making arrangements for our students to visit there on Weds.. We then went with Dr. Lambert this afternoon to his clinic in Puerto Plata to plan our week of activities. Next we visited a space where he wants his new laboratory. We took measuring tapes and graph paper and measured the area layout for the lab.

Day 2: Today May 14/13 we went to visit Dr Lambert's clinic in the Batey, the ho,e of displaced Haitians in Puerto Plata. The students got to see wound care on a diabetic patient. They remembered these wounds do not heal well as bacteria utilize sugar for food. They were using a cream with silver and sulfa drugs in it. The lady mentioned the use honey on her wound at home. We were able to tell her unpastuerized honey may contain spores of the the organism that causes gangrene and she would not use unpasteurized honey. i will leave the students to tell you more about the Batey. We then went to the hospital laboratory in the city and had a tour.

Day 3: The students are Lovin´it and I am amazed at their ibservational skills and how they were able to make a lab design on paper for Dr Lambert. They will work on the outlay of each discipline in the lab next. i know they will have many things to offer Dr. Lambert before we leave. We are going to be on Puerto plata TV tomorrow so stay tuned. My network and opportunities are growing here as well and I´v evenbeen ask to come and speak to the lab community in Puerto plata about Microbiolgy and Mlecular teasting. I´m lovin it.

Day 4: We were all invited to speak on Dr Lambert´s health education television program today. We were asked to explain rapid testing, how we found our experience at the City Laboratory and what we would like to say to the City Laboratory. The students fielded most of these questions while Michelle and I thanked the City lab for welcoming us and also thanked Dr Lambert for arranging it. We were then surprised to be presented with a plaque by Dr Lambert to commemorate our visit. We then judged finalists in his talent contest

Day 5: Michelle and I travelled to Santiago to visits the University there. We explored opportunities for exchange visits and it was a very productive day on their lovely Campus. On our way home we investigated accommodations for subsequent MLT visits to the area. Many opportunities have come out of this trip and i am very pleased with the professionalism of our students having designed a lab for Dr Lambert.
Rob Bethune
Medical Laboratory Technology Faculty
NSCC, Waterfront Campus

Day 1: Today was the day we met Dr. Lambert. Which I was extremely excited to after hearing about his story of how he came to be and the vision he wants to carry foward in his health care. It was truly inspiring! He watches over the people and has great compassion and pride with the services he wants to provide. It is going to be a great opportunity to help along in this adventure in present time and future students to come. In the culture we live in we have a tendency to take certain things for granted. Such things as the avaliability and quality of the free healthcare. Here in Dominican Republic that is something to strive towards but for us it is a way of life. It is refreshing to meet someone whose main concern is to help those less unfortunate and want to provide those services to them. I am excited to see more tomorrow!

Day 2: today was a very eventful morning. First stop was Dr Lambert's clinic in the Batey otherwise known as the slum area. I figured it would be located more outside of the town than it actually was. It surprised me to pull into such as area just by pulling off on a side street off one of the main roads since conditions of the housing were so much better only a few feet away.

They were so grateful to Dr Lambert and the clinic staff. Only great things were said about the service. One particular patient travelled from quite far away just to receive this care. The patient even allowed us to be present during her visit and tend to the ulcer on her foot. I am amazed how open and welcoming the people are in the Dominican.

Day 3: While Canadians are known to be friendly and pilite we definitely take a little Dominican culture with bus. one word that definitely comes to mind is spontaneity. We originally contacted the clinic lab to visit and by the end of the day we ended up at one that was not even contacted til earlier that day. they were welcoming and even offered up contacting other places and clinics to visit that afternoon. It was interesting to see the differences between laboratories here in the Dominican and compared to Canada. Each day has been a new surprise and learning experience and we jsut have to be willing to go along with the spontaneity of the day.

Amanda Easson
Medical Laboratory Technology Student
NSCC, Waterfront Campus

Day 1: Today was the first day that I had a chance to get a drive around the city and see what its like. It was quite overwhelming. There is a huge difference between how people drive in the Dominican compared to Canada. Cars pass each other on either side, there are motorcycle taxis everywhere, and stop signs seem to be a suggestion rather than a rule. It can be kind of scary until you realize that the person driving you has lots of experience driving in the area, and learn to trust them. All of that, combined with the different architecture and overall way of life, made today a bit of a culture shock, which I'm sure will disipate as the week goes on. Lots of great new experiences today.

Day 2: Today we went to a public hospital lab run by the government. I was a little surprised they even let us into the lab area, since they had never met any of us before. They even let us take pictures. In Canada, you couldn't just show up and ask to see their lab setup, that just wouldn't be allowed. It showed that the rules and regulations about things like that must be a little lax in comparison to Canada. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they follow the same quality control guidelines as we do. Although a lot of the lab equipment is on a much smaller scale than we're used to, the tests performed and the testing process were very similar. This lab had a very limited amount of lab equipment because they are dependant on government funding. Tomorrow we will be visiting a privately run lab, so it will be very interesting to see the differences between the two.

Day 3: Today we went to the private lab in the city. It was really interesting to see the differences between the private and public labs and Canada. The private lab performed a greater variety of tests and had considerably more equipment than the public lab. the lab that we saw today seemed to utilize their equipment better than we do in Canada. In canada we will have equipment that is capable of performing many different tests, but we will we will only use it ot do a few rests. In the Dominican they will do as many tests as they can one one piece of equipment.. because of this they are capable of doing a larger number of tests in a small space and utilize their workspace better than in Canada. Although both the public and the private lab have financial issues, the public lab obviously has less funding than the private lab. In order to do upgrades the private lab has to get a loan from the government and pay it back. The private lab also makes income form doing bthe food and water tesing for many resorts.ç

Amelia Doucette
Medical Laboratory Technology Student
NSCC, Waterfront Campus