My Transcultural Experience

Katelyn Sulgrove, Senior Nursing Student

My clinical experience for Transcultural Nursing was in downtown Minneapolis at an organization called KOLA, a program for Native Americans living on the streets of Minneapolis.  Through this program several needs are met; the Native Americans can shower, do their laundry, have something to eat, and see the doctor, if needed. Dr. McMillan, the doctor at the organization, is at the clinic Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  KOLA’s regulars all refer to him as “Doc”, and he has only earned their trust through his faithful servanthood and the loving care he provides.  It is monumental for a white person to receive trust from Native Americans because of conflict, broken promises, and the racism they have experienced throughout their history.

I began my experience at KOLA after a weekend of rain storms.  As the Natives came in that morning I had assumed they would have stayed in some sort of shelter, away from the rain.  They hadn’t. One man had hung up a plastic tarp to block the wind and rain to cover people huddled up under one sleeping bag.  They were very nonchalant about the situation, as this was a normal occurrence for them.  When I heard this, I was shocked.  My heart sank as I realized the suffering these people were experiencing.

Despite the stigma of their homelessness, they carried themselves with the air of an average person on an average day, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.  I began talking with a man getting ready to go to work for the day.  He said that he was hoping to get an apartment in January; he had enough money to rent a low-income apartment now, but because of his history of drug use no one would rent to him.  He said he was waiting for a court appeal to clear drug charges that had occurred twenty years prior so that he would be allowed to rent an apartment.
Through talking to several of the Natives, I realized that they had all been put in tough circumstances; they did not desire this lifestyle, but were caught up in cyclic behaviors. They ended up on the street because of different circumstances, leading them to have to sleep on the ground, resulting in suffering with coldness and body aches, driving them to succumb to alcohol and drug use, and ultimately causing them to fall further into the rut of homelessness.

After my day of clinical, I went to night class where the Natives consumed my mind.  I wanted to know how to make their lives better.  In class we talked about Acts 2:44-45:  “And all that believed were together, and had all things common; they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.” As a class we were to decide if this could be applied to our lives now, or if this verse was only relevant according to the culture and time in which it was written.  Some people said that we should give what we can; others said to give what was comfortable.  But all I could think of were the Native Americans who had slept on the ground during the pouring rain.

How comfortable are we entitled to be?  Luke 12:33 says, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” Sometimes we become disillusioned in our comfortable lives. But only a short distance away from us are people who are truly suffering and in need.  Like Dr. McMillan, we can all be the hands and feet of Jesus, and give of ourselves and our possessions.