Sue Pharney's trip to Kenya

Thank you to One Nurse At A Time, and Barcos' Nightingales,  for helping support me on my medical mission to Kenya. Below is a brief account of my trip, and a few photos.

The team from Project Helping Hands, twenty six of us, all met together and assembled in Nairobi Kenya. We than drove seven hours to Oyugis where we hold medical clinics for the next 8 days. Oyugis is one of the areas in Kenya that has been hit the hardest by HIV and thus has hundreds of orphaned children and thousands of people in need of medical assistance. Everyday the team would walk three miles through the country side to get to the medical clinic site and would be greeted by a couple hundred people waiting in line to be seen. In total the team saw over two thousand people on this medical mission.

The team was able to help patients get HIV and TB testing and treat several for malaria and dengue fever. My personal nursing knowledge was greatly enhanced on this trip. I was able to help treat and diagnosis diseases I had learned about in nursing school but never seen. We also tried to provide as much health education as possible and make sure the medical treatments we were prescribing were sustainable after we left Kenya. I personally was reminded of the importance of health education and preventive care. One of the saddest cases I saw was a seven month baby seen for severe malnutrition and acute diarrhea. The baby weighed less than five kilograms and was severely dehydrated and lethargic. We paid for the baby to be admitted at the local hospital where she was treated for rota virus. When we left the baby was still hospitalized and was being tested for HIV as the mother was HIV positive and had breast fed the baby. Preventative care in the form of immunizations and nutrition good have prevented this from happening. Education on oral rehydration with diarrhea and not breast feeding when HIV positive could have also prevented the baby from becoming so sick. This case showed me how blessed we are in the states with our medical system even at a time when our medical system is under much scrutiny.

One of my favorite memories of my time in Kenya was our daily walk home. Everyday

around five o'clock after clinic was finished we would walk the three miles back to our hotel. Without fail we would be greeted by a hundred "jambo" and smiling faces and cheering children. It was not uncommon for little kids to come running up to us grab our hands and walk us home. I was touched by the Kenyan spirit and by the love and appreciation they had for us. I was over whelmed by the thanks they gave and the gratitude they had for a simple toothbrush or even just holding the hand of a "mzungu".

Thank you again to everyone who helped support me and make my medical mission to Kenya possible.

Sincerely,

Susie Pharney 

Nurses for Edna - Emily Scott

One Nurse At A time and Nurses for Edna welcomes our newest volunteer nurse: Emily Scott, RN, BSN, PCCN. Emily became aware of the Nurses for Edna team on Facebook and knew immediately she wanted to become involved.  For now she is volunteering by helping to complete the “Wish List” of equipment and supplies Edna Adan has requested for the hospital in Hargeisia, and she hopes to be able to participate in a future Nurses for Edna medical mission.

Emily was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. She spent four years in sunny Southern California earning her Bachelor’s degree in Peace Studies from Chapman University. While spending one summer serving at a clinic in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, she met a group of volunteer nurses and immediately realized her calling. She finished her degree and returned to Seattle to pursue nursing, hoping to combine the two fields to affect positive change in neglected areas of the world.

Since that experience in Kenya stole her heart, Emily has returned to volunteer in Africa four more 

times. While in nursing school, she organized a service trip to Kibera, the largest slum in Africa, with her fellow students. After she gained a couple of years of hospital work experience at home, Emily and her husband quit their jobs and left for East Africa to volunteer and adventure as long as their savings would hold out. She spent four months working at a maternity hospital in Tanzania, delivering babies without electricity, running water, or doctors. Since returning to Seattle in early 2013, she has been working as a labor and delivery nurse at Providence Medical Center.” I am very passionate about maternal health and, like many others, I was deeply inspired by Edna Adan after reading her story in Half the Sky, “said Emily. “I have taken 5 trips to volunteer in East Africa over the last several years, most recently spending four months at a maternity clinic in Arusha, Tanzania. It would be a dream come true for me to volunteer at Edna's hospital, but for now I want to do anything I can to support the team going in August.”

Everyone at One Nurse At A Time, especially the Nurses for Edna team wishes to extend a hearty welcome to Emily Scott. Working together we are changing the world….one nurse at a time.

Barco's Nightingale Scholarship Winner

One of our Barco’s Nightingale Scholarship winners Anne Daly is leaving for Kenya to start her mission trip with the organization Prevention International No Cervical Cancer (PINCC.) PINCC is a nonprofit, volunteer medical service organization whose mission is to create sustainable programs that prevent cervical cancer by educating and treating women, training medical personnel and equipping facilities in developing countries. The organization works with local community personnel to provide and inexpensive way to screen for cervical cancer, some of the countries this organization works with are Latin America, Africa and India. 

Today cervical cancer kills around 300,000 women worldwide each year, even though it is completely preventable. The process is relatively easy, it is done by visual inspection of the cervix and the use of vinegar. The vinegar allows the medical personnel to see if any changes are present that should be evaluated further. PINCC was established in 2005, by Dr. Kay Taylor, a gynecologist who during a medical mission in Honduras witnessed more women dying from cervical cancer then in her entire career. From this, Dr. Taylor and her team visited three health clinic sites where there they began to train healthcare workers in screening and treatment.

From Anne:

I am about to go to Africa for the first time - Kenya - with an organization that I really enjoy working with. It is PINCC, or, Prevention International, No Cervical Cancer. This is a NGO based out of Oakland, CA and it works to establish screening for cervical cancer (still a big problem in developing countries) in local communities by using a one-step screening process. This is important because the pap testing that we are often used to requires a lot of infrastructure and coordination - that often is not possible in these countries. 

With these trips I have the privilege of getting to know a small part of the community into which we are welcomed - in a deeper way than I would by just being a tourist. I also get to teach and interact with local health professionals and I learn so much from them. More, I sometimes think, than they might learn from me!! Being of service - wherever it might be, in any agency, community, location anywhere in the world, is profoundly gratifying for me and I am honored and privileged to be able to do this with the help of organizations that support these causes. I also feel a little less "alone" when I know I am going with the support of others - and that is extremely gratifying."

Thanks Anne! We wish you a great trip and hope to hear of your mission trip when you return.

-ONAAT CREW

Post Birthday/Election Catch up

Ok, so I've slacked a little this week, what can I say it was my birthday on Tuesday and I was celebrating! :)

There is a lot to catch you all up on, first I have several medical missions to tell you about that came through on our email a week or so ago. It looks like they have several trips planned for 2013, so check them out and let us know if you are going - we would like to hear about your experience and/or give you an opportunity to apply for a scholarship for financial assistance.

2013 The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) Mercy Medical Teams 

Service Opportunities as listed below:

1. Madagascar - March 14-24   Clinical Team
2. Haiti - June 7-16   Clinical Team
3. Kenya - July 11-21   Clinical Team
4. Madagascar - August 1-11   Clinical Team
5. Kyrgyzstan - September   Community Health Education Team
6. Peru - October  Community Health Education Team
7. Kenya - November 7-17   Clinical Team

LCMS Mercy Medical Teams are currently accepting applications for medical professionals and hard working non-medical professionals to provide voluntary service in a short-term, primary care, clinical setting. These traveling, temporary, off-site rural clinics will bring desperately needed healthcare to some of the most under-served rural areas around the glove.

LCMS is looking for dedicated medical professionals including physicians, NP's, PA's, RN's, pharmacists and hard-working laity.

Ground expenses are estimated at: $1250-$1500 (for all inclusive food, lodging, ground transportation, and additional clinical supplies and meds) plus airfare. (Don't have funding now? Contact us for a flexible payment options and fund development strategies and tools for raising support!)



If you have any questions about these trips, or other opportunities, visit: LCMS Mercy Teams or feel free to call:

Jacob Fiene
Manager, Health and Medical Projects
LCMS Mercy Medical Teams
800-248-1930 ext. 1278
jacob.fiene@lcms.org
www.lcms.org/mercyteams

Mary Hogan, RN preparing to leave for Africa

Mary Hogan, RN will be traveling to Kenya with the organization, Mission of Mercy, May 4 - 13. Mission of Mercy is a child sponsorship organization helping to meet the physical and spiritual needs of children in poverty stricken areas of the world.  Through their ministry programs, children receive food, education, medical aid and hope in the name of Jesus Christ.  The purpose of the trip is to raise up and train a new group of health care workers to continue medical care for children who need it. The health care worker program was developed to fill a crucial void that is left when a medical mercy team departs. Health care workers have helped identify and treat chicken pox outbreaks, check on children who need continued care, and respond to acute needs in case of emergency.  Mary states, "I believe the impact of this mission will be exceptional and lasting. To equip leaders in this area with education and knowledge to be able to be medically able to care for children when they are left by themselves is a huge advantage to keeping children healthy."

Mary Hogan graduated with her nursing degree from Wake Technical Community College in 2003. During nursing school she worked as a nurses aide on mother-baby and post partum unit.  After graduation Mary worked on a medical teaching unit, which was a combination Medical, Renal, Urology and Surgical floor. During her 10 years in this department, Mary’s duties included taking a patient assignment, precepting new nurses and nursing students, and working as a charge nurse. In January of 2011, Mary moved to a Medical-Surgical-Oncology floor at Duke Medicine and is now a certified chemo nurse. She continues in a leadership role as preceptor and charge nurse.  With her oncology experience, she has developed an interest in end of life/hospice care. Mary is currently pursuing her Bachelors degree with the goal of obtaining a Masters degree.  With  a heart for teaching, she plans to teach nursing in the classroom and clinical setting.  Outside of work, Mary enjoys traveling, hiking, gardening, reading and spending time with family.