Sonya Solum, a student nurse who grew up in the West Valley, returned from a month working at a hospital in Taiwan with a momentous hands-on experience.

“I got to hold a heart while it was still beating,” she said.

The diseased organ was removed during a heart transplant operation at Cheng Hsin Hospital in Taipei. It was placed in a bowl before going to the lab for analysis.

The surgeon invited Solum and the other visiting student nurses to put on gloves and hold the heart. 

“Every so often it would beat because there was still some electrical activity,” Solum said.

As a result of her Taipei experiences, Solum has become more interested than ever in the cardiac-related aspects of nursing.

It could be genetic since her mother, Renae Solum, a nurse, is the director of Cardiovascular Services at Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

“My mom loves her job as a nurse and she convinced me I would love it too,” Solum said.

While growing up in the west side of the Flathead Valley, she dreamed of teaching as a career. She said her mother pointed out that nursing offers teaching opportunities as well as many other options.

After graduating from Stillwater Christian School in 2006, Solum began studying at Northwest University, a private Christian college in Kirkland, Wash. She graduates in May with a major in nursing and minor in music including voice, flute and piano.

Her stay in Taipei was part of her nursing school’s requirement for an overseas experience in line with its mission orientation. Solum said students have options go to Taipei, Calcutta, India or Zimbabwe, Africa.

On Feb. 4, she left for Taiwan with two professors and seven other students.

“This is the ninth year they’ve sent nursing students to Cheng Hsin,” she said. “They have a good relationship with the hospital and staff.”

Her group spent time in the emergency room, surgical intensive-care unit, cardiac, psych ward, medical/surgical department, nursing home, pediatric unit and operating room. They helped out with basics such as removing staples or stitches or putting in intravenous lines.

“Because of the language barrier, a lot of it was observing,” she said.

During their operating-room rotation, Solum and some other students observed the heart transplant operation, a procedure for which the hospital has a top reputation.

“Their survival rate after transplant is one of the highest,” she said.

According to Solum, many of the Cheng Hsin Hospital doctors trained in the United States at schools such as Columbia University. She found the physicians in Taipei much more teaching-oriented than those she worked with here.

“The doctors were amazing — you could talk to them about anything,” she said. “While doing a procedure, they would explain what they were doing and why they were doing it.”

As an example, she related how a surgeon discussed every step of a heart biopsy as he retrieved a tiny piece of a recently transplanted heart.

“It really made me excited about cardiac procedures,” she said. 

Solum, who had only visited Mexico and Canada, found the cultural differences enlightening, particularly as they impacted the practice of medicine. She said the hospital integrated Chinese traditional medicine concepts, such as balancing hot and cold and acupuncture, with western-style medicine.

Tradition also plays a part in the obstetrics department. In Taipei, a woman who gives birth spends a month in a facility attached to the hospital.

“They just recuperate — it’s part of their culture,” she said. “Then they’re expected to resume their normal activities.”

Solum said Taiwan hospitals also approach pain control much differently. Patients receive narcotic-type medicine for the procedures but only light, over-the-counter pain relievers during the recovery period.

“We’re big on pain control for the patient to heal faster but they use pain meds very minimally,” she said.

During her observations, Solum noticed that nurses seem well trained but not as busy as their U.S. counterparts. She said they don’t handle as many technical duties as registered nurses do over here.

Overall, Solum described Taipei’s medicine as very up-to-date. She said they use models from the United States such as triage in the emergency room.

Her month-long visit whet her appetite for traveling to other distant areas for short-term mission work when she begins her career. She said she would love to see India and Africa and perhaps put in time on ships that provide medical care to poor areas or in response to emergencies.

“Growing up in Montana, I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to interact with people from a lot of different cultures,” she said.

Solum’s next challenge is to pass the national registered nursing exam. Once she has her license in hand, she hopes to receive some great job offers.

Even with her horizons expanded, Solum doesn’t rule out coming back to her home state for her first job.

“I’d love to come here,” she said. “It’s exciting — lots of doors are open.”

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.