2007 EOU grad completes the ultimate road trip

Friday, June 15, 2007

LA GRANDE, Ore. (EOU) - At a gas station somewhere between Guatemala and Nicaragua, two women traveling alone pulled to a stop. It looked safe enough, until a group of young men, one, two, three . . . one after another, surrounded the blue 1979 Volkswagen beetle with Oregon plates. They didn't look friendly.

Loaded down with a computer, camera equipment, bicycles and other personal belongings, Renee Brooks and Mureen Walker didn't make this kind of stop unless they had to.

Brooks, a psychology student at Eastern Oregon University, was on the ultimate road trip. Her destination? Costa Rica, where she would meet up with her two children, Lawson, 9, and Cora, 7 who were safe with their dad.

Renee Brooks, right, and Mureen Walker, pose for a photo
before they head out for Costa Rica in Brooks' 1979 beetle.

Brooks had returned to the states from an extended vacation in Turrialba, Costa Rica, to be with her ailing grandmother.  Instead of flying she decided to drive her vintage car 4,000 miles from Gold Beach, Ore., back to Central America. Brooks invited Walker, a professional photographer, to document the trip from start to finish.

During her family's annual getaways to Turrialba, a hot spot for white water rafting, Brooks volunteers as a lactation consultant in the William Allen Hospital. The 35-year-old decided to go back to school so she could pursue further training as a nurse practitioner at the Oregon Health and Science University.

"I've always loved psychology, the study of people," said Brooks, who has a two-year degree in human services.

Photo/Renee Brooks
Nuria Ruiz Velazquez, left, and pediatrician, Dr. Rocio
Leiva Lopez, at William Allen Hospital in Costa Rica.

Brooks works for the Curry County Health Department and is a lactation consultant at Curry General Hospital, where she is also a doula. A doula is someone who provides support to the mother during and after childbirth. Brooks has assisted with about 50 childbirths, using relaxation techniques that help labor progress more rapidly and alleviate pain.

For her senior capstone project, Brooks chose to work with breastfeeding women in Costa Rica, comparing those with ongoing support and those without in relation to the period of time they chose to breastfeed. She found it interesting to see the cultural differences between Costa Rican breastfeeding mothers and breastfeeding mothers from the U.S.

"The women in Costa Rica have a very different view of breastfeeding in general," Brooks said. "They go through much more pain and difficulty than American women do. The resources and medical equipment such as bottles and breast pumps simply are not available."

William Allen Hospital, where Brooks volunteers, is a baby-friendly hospital and participates in an initiative launched by UNICEF and the World Health Organization to help educate mothers on successful breastfeeding techniques. The hospital owns one breast pump, which is shared by all the mothers in the maternity ward.

"They use plastic sandwich bags instead of bottles and poke a little hole in one end," Brooks said.

Brooks was shocked when she first saw this, but soon she realized it was just one example of the ingenuity put into practice everyday in the hospital that serves 60,0000 people. Everything that is imported to the country, such as plastics and electronics, are very expensive.

During her study, Brooks made follow up visits with new mothers after they'd left the hospital. She wanted to see if weekly contact would help them breastfeed longer and more successfully. Some of her clients had to walk more than a mile to the hospital or spend an hour on the bus to get to where support services were offered.

"But they always show up with a smile on their face and are proud to show off their babies," Brooks said. "It is common for mothers, sisters and aunts to form a support system when a woman has a baby, but even so, these mothers were glad to hear from the hospital and have the opportunity to ask questions they might not otherwise ask."

"The more information that can be made available, the better," Brooks added.

Honk! Honk! Brooks jumped out of her little VW beetle and waved a canned-air horn in their faces. It was enough to make the group of young men take a step back and she ducked into the car, turning the key in the ignition. It wouldn't start.

Even though all of Walker's camera equipment was hidden from view, both knew they were in danger of being robbed, or even worse. Brooks took a breath and tried the key once more. This time the engine turned over and they sped away.

Brooks eyeing the fruit at a local market.

"When we left the U.S., we had to be comfortable with the fact that we could lose everything, even the car," Brooks said. "Mureen made a list of survival items that we had to bring in order for her to get in the car, including duct tape, wire, gas cans, spare tires and the air horns."

Brooks drove 2,000 miles by herself from Gold Beach to Houston, Tex., where Walker joined her for the remainder of the trip. Relying on travel books for tips on what to watch out for while traversing Central America, the air horns got them out of more than one sticky situation.

The stretch from Mexico to Costa Rica took seven days because they couldn't travel at night for safety reasons. No more than 24-hours after Brooks and Walker arrived safely in Turrialba, the engine in Brooks' car blew up.

"Those seven days in the car changed our lives," Brooks said.

Back in her home state, Brooks is finishing her psychology coursework and preparing to graduate. She will don a cap and gown and walk with the class of 2007 at EOU's Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, June 16.

Brooks credits DeAnna Timmermann, assistant professor of psychology at EOU, for being a tremendous source of support and helping her stay on track. Without her help, Brooks said she would not be graduating.

"Renee has had the opportunity to combine her interest in the health field with her desire to earn a psychology degree," Timmermann said.

"Her senior project has been rather involved. She has had to work with human subject committees in two countries to gain approval for the project, design the project and data collection methods with limited technological availability, and overcome language and cultural barriers. She should rightfully be proud of her many accomplishments - I know I am!" Timmermann said.

An online photo gallery of Walker's images from the trip can be viewed at www.pbase.com/craggycoast.

 

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