Celebrating Nurses Week: Samaritan nurse takes mission trip to Honduras

May 7—WATERTOWN — Gabrielle J. Bodie, a registered nurse at Samaritan Medical Center, admits she was a little nervous traveling to Honduras in February for a mission trip.

She said that she heard her mom in her head telling her to be aware of her surroundings and know where she was going. But after meeting the people in Honduras, she became more comfortable.

"They took me in as their own and it felt like a family out there," she said.

Bodie filled out an application after her boss Shannon Phillips sent out an email asking if anyone would be interested in the Honduras mission trip.

After waiting a couple of weeks, Bodie went through an interview process before being accepted.

Bodie then took the 10-hour flight, with layovers, to Honduras, before traveling to the orphanage where she stayed for a week with between 30 and 40 people.

Bodie said she met another person going on the trip in Miami. They flew down together and once they landed in Honduras, they received a phone call to give them directions on who to meet.

Not all people on the trip were medical professionals, although most people were, Bodie said.

Three or four medical brigades took the trip with Bodie and they completed assessments on people in the town and provided medication and even teeth pulling.

"I think the highest that we had was about 140 teeth pulled one day," she said.

Medical professionals also gave injections for sore muscles and gave Hondurans sunglasses.

"The kids loved getting the sunglasses," she said.

Bodie said that one of the major eye-opening experiences was the lack of access to medical care. Sometimes it would take people four hours to get any type of medical care.

"We were seeing people with very high blood pressures down there who had no access to any type of medication," she said.

Going down to help out was extremely rewarding for Bodie.

"It was the best feeling in the world," she said. "Every aspect of this experience for me was eye opening, and I just felt like I belonged."

To speak with Hondurans, there were a couple translators as well as people who have gone down for years and taught themselves Spanish.

Bodie said one big thing she is going to take with her for the rest of her life is to be open-minded about all experiences.

She made memories that are going to last a lifetime.

"The people I've met, I still keep in contact with them," she said.

Bodie plans to make the trip again next year.