Berekum, Ghana
Holy Family Nursing & Midwifery Training College and Holy Family Hospital
From left to right: Dr. Shery Watson, Sr. Judith (Director of Nursing), Cynthia (Assistant Director of Nursing), Maria Morano, Ashia Graham, Bryanna Palamara, Alexis Martinez, Camryn Abbate at the Holy Family Hospital in Berekum, Ghana.
The Iona Nursing program offers BS and MS students the opportunity to complete practicum hours in Berekum, Ghana. The focus of the 10-day clinical experience for BS nursing students is on caring for patients across the lifespan in a rural, acute care hospital as well as outpatient clinics. MS nursing students will have experiences that are tailored to their specific program, including working with hospital administrators and nurse educators. All participants will work alongside Iona faculty and Ghanaian nurses and physicians to care for the region's people, using native resources while practicing with an interprofessional team. The program will allow students to be immersed in the rich local African culture while practicing healthcare.
The location for the program is in the northwest part of the country in Sunyani region, nestled on Holy Family Nursing & Midwifery Teaching College and Holy Family Hospital. Iona is welcomed by the Bishop of Sunyani and the College and Hospital’s Chief Executive.
I got the opportunity to see how health care differs across the world. It was an amazing experience that allowed me to see how personal the care they deliver in Ghana truly is.
-Maria Morano ’24
Nursing students administer Vitamin A medication and do growth and development assessments with local public health nurses at a school in Berekum.
About the Program
The first Ghana global clinical immersion program is being offered to BS nursing students in their final semester of the program. This program is faculty-led and awards 50 clinical hours to participants.
Participants will have the opportunity to learn about traditional medicine in a nearby village. The final cultural excursion will be a visit to Cape Coast, a seaside city near Accra to visit Elmina Castle, to understand the perilous journey of African slaves.
Course Overview: NUR 402
This course will explore the role of the nurse caring for individuals, families, communities, and populations, with an emphasis on designing, implementing, and evaluating population-based interventions to promote health. The emphasis is on examining social determinants that affect health outcomes. Consideration is given to populations experiencing chronic health problems being cared for in the home and a variety of community settings.
Housing
Participants will stay in a dorm-style residence at Holy Family Nursing and Midwifery Teaching College
Dates
February 2026
Program Fee: TBD
Program Fee Includes:
- Program orientation
- In-country ground & air transportation
- Meals*
- Accommodations
- Cultural excursion to Elmina Castle, Cape Coast
- Mandatory international health and evacuation insurance
*Unfortunately our host cannot accommodate any dietary allergies. No accommodation is available for food allergies such as nuts or gluten, and no accommodation for latex as the mattresses are made of latex.
Other Costs Not Included in Program Fee:
- VISA fees
- US to Ghana flights
- May be booked independently on Delta using miles. Flights must be booked by October 1, 2025.
- Trip insurance (recommended)
- Health requirements (yellow fever vaccination required for VISA application)
- Personal expenses
- Snacks
Requirements
- Enroll in NUR 402 Nursing Care for Diverse Populations for BS students.
- Be in good academic and professional standing with the department.
- Passports may not expire within 6 months from the last day of the program.
- Students under any active form of academic or disciplinary probation at the time of departure will not be permitted to participate in the program.
- The faculty leader of this program and the Office of Study Abroad has the right to deny approval in the participation of this program to students with any professional and/or misconduct problems.
Contact
Dr. Shery Watson
email: swatson@iona.edu
Scholarships are available.
Nursing students at the Holy Family Nursing & Midwifery Teaching College in Berekum, Ghana. From left to right: Maria Morano, Bryanna Palamara, Ashia Graham, Camryn Abbate, Alexis Martinez
Visiting and donating school supplies to a third grade classroom at a local Catholic school in Berekum.
While in Ghana, administrators and professors from Iona had the opportunity to meet with healthcare professionals from Holy Family Hospital to discuss local healthcare practices.
Iona nursing students work with the public health nurses at their school health clinic to assess growth and development and administer medications.
Attending the Blessing of the Hands ceremony for the first-year nursing students. In this photo, nursing student Ashia Graham is getting her hands blessed.
Saying a prayer over the donated nursing textbooks Shery Watson, Ph.D., brought to the Holy Family Nursing & Midwifery Teaching College in Berekum,
The group learned the history of the slave trade while visiting the Elmina Castle & Slave Dungeons (1482) in Cape Coast, Ghana.