Hands, Hearts, and Hope: Creighton Nursing Students Serve Alongside GPiH in Togo

In May 2026, a team of Creighton University nursing and occupational therapy students crossed an ocean to put their training into action at the GPiH and Compassion Partnered health center in Agbelouvé, Togo, and came home transformed. Their trip is a living expression of the growing partnership between Creighton and GPiH: students from Creighton's Omaha and Phoenix campuses worked shoulder to shoulder with local clinical staff, treating patients and helping stock a fully equipped surgery center. Weeks later, that same spirit would be formalized when Creighton and the University of Lomé signed their framework cooperation agreement, but the foundation was already being laid, one patient at a time.

For Julia Anderson, an accelerated nursing student on the Omaha campus, the trip revealed how powerful reciprocity can be: "As much of an impact as we are able to make here as students through educating and informing, the community and the people here have just as much of an impact on us as individuals. I think it will have a life-lasting impact on me, and it will motivate me to continue educating others and growing as a nurse."

Nursing student Lacy White found in Togo a model of community she wants to carry home: "Everybody works together, and everybody takes care of each other. I feel like that's something we've kind of lost sight of in the United States. I really hope to work in global health, and to bring that level of care and compassion back with me."

My favorite part is watching the students be shocked by the differences between U.S. and Togolese healthcare. It stays with them for the rest of their professional lives. We want to inspire students to be global citizens, and to bring home the warmth and compassion they find here." - Dr. Jenny Jessen, associate professor of nursing at Creighton.

That same fire showed up across the whole team. Occupational therapy student Kayla Prull put it plainly: "We can all benefit from each other and everyone else's learning." Nursing student Illumirosa Priester found that trust is the real foundation of care. Her team spent 45 minutes playing with children at a local orphanage before teaching handwashing: "That built such a community and trust between them and us, that when the time came for teaching, it was just a beautiful, cohesive moment." And occupational therapy student Anden Williams captured the bigger picture: "It's not just one profession working alone, but everybody working together for the better of the patient."

Every student who arrived ready to serve left having been served in return, changed by a community that gave as generously as it received. That is the heart of what GPiH and Creighton are building together. Experiences like this are built not in the classroom alone, but in clinics and orphanages, through students willing to show up and make a difference.