Oral history
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Collection
RPCV-ACC-2018-018
Nicola Dino served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador from 1993 to 1997 in a public health program, then joined the training staff in Ecuador in 1999. Dino was a mid-career registered nurse and the mother of grown children when she decided to join the Peace Corps. During training in Tumbaco, she focused on "how to do rural public health in Ecuador." But it was not until she was working in the village of Juan Montalvo side-by-side with the local nurse practitioner (Mercedes) did she finally grasp rural health care, and along with it, the Spanish language. With Mercedes, she practiced health care and initiated health and hygiene education for schoolchildren, whose infectious enthusiasm lead to regional health education. She and her community petitioned to extend her service so she could finish projects and provide country-wide leadership in Peace Corps public health programs. After the Peace Corps, she completed a masters in community and economic development at Illinois State University and moved to Portland, Oregon, where she provided health care services to immigrants. In 2002, Dino became president of the Committee for a Museum of the Peace Corps Experience. Interviewed and recorded by Patricia A. Wand, April 23, 2018. 2 digital audio files (web streaming files combined into 1 file).