Unforgettable journey
Loyola Nursing students witness trauma and healing in El Salvador
By Diane Dungey
The people of El Salvador tell stories of violence, loss, and resilience, and Jennie Chiavola said meeting some of them during a 2007 immersion trip as a Loyola University Chicago undergraduate changed her life.
This year, a group of Loyola Nursing students traveled to El Salvador on a similar mission led by Chiavola, senior academic advisor at the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. The trip was a voyage of understanding and growth, according to Chiavola and students.
“You can’t come back the same person,” Chiavola said.
The trip was organized by Loyola’s Health Sciences Campus Ministry as part of the Ignatian Service Immersion program.
Most of their time was spent in Guarjila, in the north. It was settled by Salvadorans returning from refugee camps in Honduras, where they had fled during their country’s devastating 1979–1992 civil war.
For a week in March, the Loyola students—all part of the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program—shared meals and daily tasks with families in the village. They met with survivors of the war, in which 75,000 civilians were killed. They visited the health clinic named in memory of founder Ann Manganaro, an American nun and physician. They learned about living in poverty, being displaced, or getting by only because of funds sent by children or spouses living far away, often in the United States.
The powerful experience gave focus to the Jesuit emphasis on meeting individuals’ physical, spiritual, and emotional needs, said Nick Lucero, BSN ’25.
“The trip really showed me in person, for my own eyes, this is what they're talking about. You have no idea what people have gone through, or what they have to deal with,” Lucero said.
Power of community
Reminders of the war are everywhere in El Salvador. Chiavola, five students, and Arden Baldinger, a registered dietitian at Loyola Nursing's School-Based Health Center at Proviso East High School in Maywood, Illinois, visited grim touchstones such as the San Salvador plaza where mourners were killed during the 1980 funeral for slain Catholic Archbishop Óscar Romero, who was canonized in 2018.
They spent hours around the kitchen tables of hosts Rita Otero and Morena Palma and spoke with women doing needlework at a cooperative workshop. Their memories of the war “were incredibly sad,” Grant Alex, BSN ’25, said.
The Salvadorans recounted fleeing death squads that swept through the countryside. One woman told how her toddler’s comment put the family in grave danger when a gunman came to their house.
“The child said, ‘My dad has a “The child said, ‘My dad has a gun like that.’ The dad wasn’t supposed to have a gun. She was really scared the man was going to take the family away,” said Unique Love, BSN ’24.
The stories were harsh, but Lucero says his memories of the trip are scenes of happiness.
“What I picture in my head is how bright and happy those families were. I see them smiling and laughing with us at the dinner table or when they were cooking,” Lucero recalled.
Constantly retelling difficult experiences can prolong trauma, said Love, who plans to be a psychiatric nurse practitioner. But the people she met “are in a really good spot now.”
“I enjoyed seeing them not be in survival mode anymore. I appreciated hearing the steps they take to help the community.”
It’s an example Love will use in her nursing career.
“Building community is a way to help people who’ve gone through tough situations,” Love said.
Holistic approach
The health clinic at the center of Guarjila has a lab and a small pharmacy, and paper files fill the records room from floor to ceiling. The modest facility and the challenges in keeping it supplied reflect global disparities in how health care is provided, Alex said. But the clinic also demonstrates a different approach to meeting people’s needs, one that’s based on a holistic view of patients, he added.
“Everyone knew each other. Everyone was there to support each other. You could tell the workers were there because they felt called to do so. They all had such determination in their eyes,” Alex said.
The Loyola Nursing students followed varied paths to the ABSN program, which requires applicants to hold a degree in another field and means most are older and have more professional experience than the typical undergraduate. Alex left technology sales to pursue “a more purpose-driven career.” Love enrolled after traveling the world as a backpacker and model.
They said they will carry their experiences in El Salvador with them as nurses.
“It helps me to be more compassionate and to be an advocate for people from all walks of life,” Alex said.
The trip reinforced the lessons —and questions—that arose from her 2007 experience, said Chiavola, who studied theology, ethics, and moral philosophy at Loyola and received a master’s in religion with a concentration in ethics from Yale University.
“What if this were me? What if I were born in El Salvador or a developing country? How different my life would be,” she said. “I think the most important thing is to realize how privileged we are and learn about how our U.S. policies impact people in countries like this.”
Loyola Nursing students witness trauma and healing in El Salvador
By Diane Dungey
The people of El Salvador tell stories of violence, loss, and resilience, and Jennie Chiavola said meeting some of them during a 2007 immersion trip as a Loyola University Chicago undergraduate changed her life.
This year, a group of Loyola Nursing students traveled to El Salvador on a similar mission led by Chiavola, senior academic advisor at the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. The trip was a voyage of understanding and growth, according to Chiavola and students.
“You can’t come back the same person,” Chiavola said.
The trip was organized by Loyola’s Health Sciences Campus Ministry as part of the Ignatian Service Immersion program.
Most of their time was spent in Guarjila, in the north. It was settled by Salvadorans returning from refugee camps in Honduras, where they had fled during their country’s devastating 1979–1992 civil war.
For a week in March, the Loyola students—all part of the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program—shared meals and daily tasks with families in the village. They met with survivors of the war, in which 75,000 civilians were killed. They visited the health clinic named in memory of founder Ann Manganaro, an American nun and physician. They learned about living in poverty, being displaced, or getting by only because of funds sent by children or spouses living far away, often in the United States.
The powerful experience gave focus to the Jesuit emphasis on meeting individuals’ physical, spiritual, and emotional needs, said Nick Lucero, BSN ’25.
“The trip really showed me in person, for my own eyes, this is what they're talking about. You have no idea what people have gone through, or what they have to deal with,” Lucero said.
Power of community
Reminders of the war are everywhere in El Salvador. Chiavola, five students, and Arden Baldinger, a registered dietitian at Loyola Nursing's School-Based Health Center at Proviso East High School in Maywood, Illinois, visited grim touchstones such as the San Salvador plaza where mourners were killed during the 1980 funeral for slain Catholic Archbishop Óscar Romero, who was canonized in 2018.
They spent hours around the kitchen tables of hosts Rita Otero and Morena Palma and spoke with women doing needlework at a cooperative workshop. Their memories of the war “were incredibly sad,” Grant Alex, BSN ’25, said.
The Salvadorans recounted fleeing death squads that swept through the countryside. One woman told how her toddler’s comment put the family in grave danger when a gunman came to their house.
“The child said, ‘My dad has a “The child said, ‘My dad has a gun like that.’ The dad wasn’t supposed to have a gun. She was really scared the man was going to take the family away,” said Unique Love, BSN ’24.
The stories were harsh, but Lucero says his memories of the trip are scenes of happiness.
“What I picture in my head is how bright and happy those families were. I see them smiling and laughing with us at the dinner table or when they were cooking,” Lucero recalled.
Constantly retelling difficult experiences can prolong trauma, said Love, who plans to be a psychiatric nurse practitioner. But the people she met “are in a really good spot now.”
“I enjoyed seeing them not be in survival mode anymore. I appreciated hearing the steps they take to help the community.”
It’s an example Love will use in her nursing career.
“Building community is a way to help people who’ve gone through tough situations,” Love said.
Holistic approach
The health clinic at the center of Guarjila has a lab and a small pharmacy, and paper files fill the records room from floor to ceiling. The modest facility and the challenges in keeping it supplied reflect global disparities in how health care is provided, Alex said. But the clinic also demonstrates a different approach to meeting people’s needs, one that’s based on a holistic view of patients, he added.
“Everyone knew each other. Everyone was there to support each other. You could tell the workers were there because they felt called to do so. They all had such determination in their eyes,” Alex said.
The Loyola Nursing students followed varied paths to the ABSN program, which requires applicants to hold a degree in another field and means most are older and have more professional experience than the typical undergraduate. Alex left technology sales to pursue “a more purpose-driven career.” Love enrolled after traveling the world as a backpacker and model.
They said they will carry their experiences in El Salvador with them as nurses.
“It helps me to be more compassionate and to be an advocate for people from all walks of life,” Alex said.
The trip reinforced the lessons —and questions—that arose from her 2007 experience, said Chiavola, who studied theology, ethics, and moral philosophy at Loyola and received a master’s in religion with a concentration in ethics from Yale University.
“What if this were me? What if I were born in El Salvador or a developing country? How different my life would be,” she said. “I think the most important thing is to realize how privileged we are and learn about how our U.S. policies impact people in countries like this.”