Across the miles

When three TVCC sophomores stepped onto Romanian soil that chilly day in March, they arrived with a purpose. They were there to help orphans and children living in poverty.The trio knew spending a week on a mission trip in the little European country would not only help those in need, but also probably alter their personal views of the world.

They had no idea how much they would be changed. When many college students around the country were traveling home or to

warmer climates to celebrate spring break, Ali Peterson, McCae Larson and Chelsea Malone were preparing for the 20-hour flight to Europe.

They were joined by TVCC’s Director of Student Activities Cortney Curran, TVCC-Palestine Assistant to the Provost Vicki Dossett, and a few others from the Athens area. The trip was not sponsored by the college, but the travelers were united by their involvement with TVCC. Malone, Larson and Peterson were all involved in the TVCC Student Government Association and other campus groups during the 2012-13 school year.

For Malone and Larson, March 7, 2013, was the first time they had stepped onto European soil. Although Peterson had traveled to Europe, it was her first time in Romania.

Their trip began with Curran, who said she has made “too many trips to Romania to count.” Over the years, Curran has become involved with Livada Orphan Care of Plano. The group is dedicated to sponsorship and care of Romanian orphans of all ages.

“I was speaking with the organization director and he suggested I bring students the next time I came,” said Curran. “I thought it was a great idea and we started trying to make it happen.”

Making it happen wasn’t easy. The students had to work to raise money to pay for airfare and other incidentals. But they had a little bit of help along the way. Another sophomore, Will Baker, organized the Cruisin’ Cardinals Car Show to help with the trip.

Students spend spring break helping Romanian orphans

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TVCC sophomores (from left) McCae Larson, Ali Peterson and Chelsea Malone traveled to Romania to help orphans during spring break 2013 along with Director of Student Activities Cortney Curran (far right). 21

A new perspectiveAlthough there were some western restaurants and modern

conveniences, the similarities between the countries were few.“The countryside is very different,” said Larson. “If there’s not a

house on it, it’s used for farmland.”“The houses were built right along the sides of the roads,” said

Peterson. “Sometimes one house could be several different colors. And all the houses were in villages. You could automatically tell a Romanian village from a Gypsy village because the Gypsy villages were shacks and the Romanian villages were houses.”

The Romani, known in slang as Gypsy, are of mostly Indian descent. The largely nomadic groups are scattered through most European countries. The Romanian people, in contrast, are the largest percentage of the population and are of European descent.

The group spent mornings working with orphan infants and afternoons conducting an after-school program for children in the poorer villages.

In the infant hospital, said Malone, they worked with the babies on motor skills.

“It was sad because sometimes those babies weren’t moved all day long,” she said. ‘It was fun and the people were really nice. But it was also heartbreaking. Working with babies for a week they begin to get used to you. They would cling to you not to put them down. You start to grow fond of the little ones.”

In the afternoons, the group would board a van and ride out to a different village each day to work with elementary-age children.

“We did lots of crafts,” said Peterson. “We would go into a small classroom and do a Bible lesson. Then there was a cultural exchange. We taught them English words and they would teach us words and phrases in their language.”

For the group, the language barrier was a challenge. But they had plenty of help.

“We had translators with us most of the time,” said Curran. “Some of the friends I have made over the years help us translate. I speak very little, but I can speak with the babies and the little kids.

“The students did a great job of learning some basic phrases so we could communicate very well by the end of the week.”

The students said they were touched and heartbroken by the

conditions in which children they were there to help lived. They experienced a very non-American view of adoption and the status of children who are abandoned by their parents.

“It is much more culturally acceptable to drop your child off and not come back for a while,” said Curran. “The child is not declared abandoned until the parent has not had contact for a year. Then, after that time, the paperwork is started to put that child in state custo-dy. And it takes an exorbitant amount of time for all that to happen. Then they can officially be adopted.

“But if at any time in the process the parent comes back to visit, the time starts over. And international adoptions are closed right now, so they cannot be adopted unless the parents are Romanian.”

Some of those children, the three will never forget. “There was one little girl when we went to the Gypsy village,” said

Peterson. “As soon as I made eye contact we connected and she just ran to me and clung to me the entire time. I just instantly fell in love with her and saw how happy she was in that moment. I couldn’t help but think that she probably has no room of her own and who knows if she had running water.

“It was freezing outside so I gave her my gloves because she didn’t have any. I am glad I got to make an impact on her life by giving her something of mine.”

Official Name: Romania

Location: (Southeastern) Central Europe

Time Zone: Seven hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Standard Time (GMT + 2)

Area: 92,043 sq. miles (238,391 sq. km)

Flag of Romania: Three vertical stripes - colors are red, yellow and blue.

ROMANIAOfficial Name: Romania

Location: (Southeastern) Central Europe

Time Zone: Seven hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Standard Time (GMT + 2)

Area: 92,043 sq. miles (238,391 sq. km)

Flag of Romania: Three vertical stripes - colors are red, yellow and blue.

ROMANIA

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ROMANIA

Lessons learnedAfter they were once again on home soil, the three immediately

decided to take another trip. They said they got much more out of being in Romania than they expected. All three are planning a second trip in 2014.

“The main thing I wanted to do was help, but I also wanted to see what I have that they don’t. What benefits do I get by being born in the United States that they don’t,” said Larson. “This has made me appreciate so much more what we have here.”

Peterson said, “I was recently filling out a scholarship application and one of the questions was about an experience that affected you and how you use it in your life. I wrote about Romania and my trip over spring break.

“I said that I cannot wait to go back to Romania and spread the word of God even more.”

Despite the many trips she has made in the past, Curran said this trip was special for her for several reasons. Not only was it the first time she had taken students from TVCC along, but she also got to visit with a group of children she worked with back during her early trips to Romania.

“They were little then, but this group is 17 or so now. I recognized

several of them right off the bat. It was sweet to see how far they had come. You always wonder what happens to them, and I got to see where they were and how they had turned out.”

Malone originally signed up for the trip to help her career path. As an education major, she said she wanted the chance to work with children of another culture. She said she wanted to know if she could connect with children with different backgrounds.

But she found much more. “I had a spiritual awakening. We may feel we are in bad situations,

but they have it so much worse than we can even think about here. I know you are supposed to take care of your own first, but there are people all over the world who are suffering.

“Those kids there, just the look in their eyes makes your heart melt. You know they can’t help how they were raised and taught to do. Here we have the resources to be mature adults and make the right choices. They teach them things like that there, but at the same time they don’t have anything. So it’s hard because the families there don’t have anything.

“It’s good to have the volunteers to work with them and tell them they are cared for and they are loved and there is hope. This has shown me there is hope for everyone.”

Population: 19,350,000 (2012)

Ethnic Groups: Romanian 89%, Hungarian 6.5%, Gypsy 3.2%, Ukrainian, German, Other 1.3%

Religions: Christian Orthodox 78%, Greek-Catholic 10%, Roman Catholic 5%, Protestant 5%, Jewish, Unitarian

Official Language: Romanian

Climate: Temperate, similar to northeastern USA

Capital: Bucharest Source:RomanianTouristOffice

ROMANIA

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When the 2013 Great 100 Nurses of Dallas and Fort Worth list was released, TVCC alumna Tammie Brown-O’Connor’s name was on it.Brown-O’Connor works as the clinical nurse manager at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center – Zale Lipshy Campus. This is her ninth year in nursing. She works in the hospital’s neurological intensive care unit.“It’s an award I never dared to even dream of receiving,” said Brown-O’Connor. “I look to so many as mentors that I never considered

myself among this esteemed group. I learned after the event that I was nominated by several of my nursing colleagues, and I am still in awe to have been considered.”

She received her award at a ceremony in May 2013.

One of the best

Alumna named to 2013 list of Great 100 Nurses of Dallas and Fort Worth

“It’s an award I never dared to even dream of receiving. I look to so many as mentors that I never considered myself among this esteemed group.”

– Tammie O’Connor

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Brown-O’Connor was one of eight nurses at UT Southwestern to earn a position on the list of best nurses. The hospital includes 10.8 million square feet of space and is adjacent to Children’s Medical Center Dallas and Parkland Memorial Hospital

The DFW Great 100 list has been in place since 1991. The organization’s website states the award is designed to recognize registered nurses for their contributions to the communities in which they live and practice both the art and science of nursing.

The event honors nurses who were nominated by their peers for being role models, leaders, community servants, compassionate caregivers and significant contributors to the profession.

Brown-O’Connor lives in Poetry, a small town north of Terrell, with her husband of 21 years and her two children, one a college freshman and the other a high school freshman.

She went into the nursing field after her stepfather underwent risky heart surgery in the late 1990s.

“While standing over his bed, I told God that if he would give me my dad back, I would do all I could to one day give other daughters their dads back as well,” said Brown-O’Connor.

She started that career by attending TVCC from 2001-2004. During her time at the college, she said she learned the skills to build a quality foundation in her field.

“I feel I had the best nursing education delivered by the most passionate, expert instructors,” said Brown-O’Connor.

“TVCC gave me the lens needed to see the big picture – to look at the patient as a whole and not just a diagnosis. I learned at TVCC, that I am responsible to revealing/preventing pitfalls (infections, hospital acquired events) before they happen.”

Although many of the staff were special to her, she added, there was one person she will always consider a mentor – the late Dr. Ray Har-grove-Huttel.

“Through her, I learned to stand up for what I felt was right for my patients even when it is not comfortable. Ray also confirmed the importance of supporting my team and making sure the unit/team is adequately staffed, educated, competent, and has the equipment and supplies needed to deliver safe care.”

Today, Brown-O’Connor is responsible for providing safe care to hundreds of patients each year.

“I manage a team that provides top notch care to those that are critically ill. I have a special eye for seeing the big picture and making sure all aspects of care pull together to deliver quality care and prevent infection,” said Brown-O’Connor.

Before her current position, she also worked as a staff nurse and clinic coordinator in a cardiovascular ICU, as a research nurse in pulmonary hypertension and as a clinical nurse manager for a surgical specialty unit.

After leaving TVCC, she went on to Western Governor’s University to earn her bachelor’s degree.

She holds her CCRN, a certification in critical care given by the Association of Critical Care Nurses.

Brown-O’Connor said she’s learned many things during her years in the field. The most important, she said, is to stay grounded.

“I would tell those coming into the field to remember why you went into nursing. Most of us say it is ‘to help others.’ If your motive is pure and stays at the forefront of your mind, the paperwork and all the rules of accreditation/healthcare don’t get in the way of your passion,” said Brown-O’Connor.

“Remember the patient before you remember yourself. The only constant in healthcare is change so you need to embrace it.”

She also said she would tell those currently enrolled in the TVCC program that the lessons learned there will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

“I remember hearing over and over again during my tenure at TVCC that ‘nursing equals flexibility.’ That is so, so true,” she said.

“Also, ‘C’ does not equal RN. Shoot high with your grades. I’m not talking about book smarts. I’m talking about putting your all into something you love. If you love it, doesn’t it deserve your best? Here at UTSW, the first question the recruiters ask is what your GPA is. It matters!”

Brown-O’Connor, shown here on the bottom row, right side, was one of eight staff members at the University of Texas Southwestern to earn a spot on the 2013 Great 100 Nurses of Dallas and Fort Worth list. (Photos courtesy of David Gresham, UTSW University News Bureau.)

“The only constant in healthcare is change so you need to embrace it ... “I remember hearing over and over again during my tenure at TVCC that ‘nursing equals flexibility.’ That is so, so true.”

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