DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS RECRUITMENT INFORMATION SESSIONS - PORTLAND & SEATTLE

PUT YOUR IDEALS INTO PRACTICE:

Every day, Doctors Without Borders aid workers from around the world provide assistance to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe – treating those most in need regardless of political, religious, or economic interest. Whether an emergency involves armed conflicts or epidemics, malnutrition or natural disasters, Doctors Without Borders is committed to bringing quality medical care to people caught in crisis.

On on July 25th in Portland, and on July 26th in Seattle, medical and non-medical professionals are invited to join us for a presentation to learn more about how you can join Doctors Without Borders' pool of dedicated aid workers. You'll meet experienced Doctors Without Borders aid workers from the Seattle area and hear firsthand stories of "life in the field." Aid worker and recruiter Melissa Bieri will discuss requirements and the application process.

Monday, July 25, 2011 - 7:00PM (PT)

REI Portland

1405 NW Johnson St

Portland, OR 97209

For more information and to register for Portland please visit: http://msfportlandinfosession072511.eventbrite.com/

Tuesday, July 26, 2011 - 7:00PM (PT)

REI Seattle

222 Yale Avenue N

Seattle, WA 98109

For more information and to register for Seattle  please visit: http://msfseattleinfosession072611.eventbrite.com/

Working as a Team in San Raymundo

The very best thing about the Medical Mission trip with Refuge International was working with a group of professionals who are skilled in giving care, and cared deeply about the people they were giving care to. We worked as a team, and everyone was there to help. So many of our patients had extraordinary stories: men who worked in blazing sun without hats or water, children who had played with gun powder to make fireworks with an open fire, with disastrous results (hideous scaring), and women who waited years and had come hours on a bus ride to be relieved of their daily pain from uterine fibroids are three examples. We had a couple of terminal cancer patients and everyone in the mission was aware of them, concerned for them, and prayed for them to be eased of their suffering. I would be thrilled to go back every month to work at that clinic!

Gretchen Mettler graduated from Kent State University with a BA in Political Science in 1974.  In 1978 she got her Associate Degree in Nursing  from Youngstown State University, then completed her BSN and MS from the University of Minnesota in 1984. Gretchen has worked in  variety of settings as a Certified Nurse Midwife including a hospital affiliated birth center, a community hospital, and private practice, a federally funded community health center, and  University Hospitals of Cleveland in the Women's Health Center, where she cares for a mostly urban, impoverished and socially marginalized population. Gretchen lives in Cleveland, Ohio with an 11 year old "rescued” black standard poodle, Willie, 2 cats, Kittie and Nell. She loves to relax by gardening, cooking, reading or enjoys a wide variety of music Gretchen is the principle care giver to an aunt who will be 95 in May and her greatest accomplishment is being a mother to 19 year old, Liza, who is a college sophomore. Gretchen was our second scholarship recipient for 2011. she served with Refuge International in San Raymundo, Guatemala from Feb 17-27, 2011.

One Common Ground - A Nurse's Experience

Do you know about all the American boys  in Kosovo? They were there to protect the peace. They were everywhere! And not just Americans – Peacekeeping Forces from all over the world including Russia, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Sweden and America were stationed in Kosovo. I was there too, celebrating the millennium summer, working as a nurse practitioner in the war recovery effort. I was privileged to be working in a Maternal Child Health Program in Gjilane, Kosovo.....

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One afternoon on the way to my café, I passed a parked Hummer on the corner. In the portal cut from the roof of the Hummer stood two young soldiers facing in opposite directions so they could view the street in both directions.  Each held a machine gun. As I neared the corner I caught the eye of the young man that faced me, with his gun pointing toward my heart. He was a tall boy, about 18 years old, with solemn brown eyes and dark skin. He looked straight ahead with a stern and serious expression on his face.

I wondered how these young men feel about the big responsibility they had been given. They were all very young men, boys really, in their late teens or early twenties. Living so far away from home and not being allowed by the military to socialize among the local people, they must surely feel lonely.

As I caught the young man's eye, I stop walking and smiled at him. His expression remained unchanged, still, stern, serious and grim.  Then I pointed to myself and silently spelled out a single word  A-M-E-R-I-C-A-N, smiled and then  gave a little wave. His serious posture shifted. A wide grin spread over his face as he gave a small nod in my direction. We had connected. Although far, far away from the “land of the free and the home of the brave, we were on common ground.

By Nancy Leigh Harless, BSN, WCHNP and Director Communications for One Nurse At A Time worked with International Medical Corp in the post-Balkan War recovery effort in Gjalen, Kosovo during the summer of 2000. Read the entire article at: http://www.nursetogether.com/Volunteer/VolunteerArticle/tabid/360/itemId/2629/On-Common-Ground-A-Nurses-Experience.aspx