Brown Bag Forum with Student Nurses

One way One Nurse At A Time supports nurses is through community networking opportunities: speaking engagements, public events, publication of articles and by providing a discussion forum for exchange of volunteer and humanitarian nursing experiences.  

Sue Averill and Bette Coulter met with the student nurses of Shoreline Community College in Shoreline, Washington on Tuesday for a "Brown Bag Forum." They  discussed humanitarian nursing, using a story they co-authored, "Susy," as a springboard for discussion of nursing challenges in the developing world.  A huge thank you to Sue and Bette for being such inspirational role models for these fledgling nurses! 

Global Health Disparities

     Sue Averill RN, MBA and Bette Coulter, RN will address the graduate nursing class; “Disparity and Social Justice in Health Care” taught by Mabel Ezeonwu, PhD, RN at the Bothell campus of the University of Washington on Friday, February 25, 2011.

Both Sue and Bette are published authors.They have been invited to discuss their personal international nursing experiences as well as share their stories from the anthology, Nurses Beyond Borders.  Sue, Co-Founder and President of One Nurse At A Time will discuss her work in Liberia in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp; Bette will share her experience of volunteering in Luoyang, China as a part of a Surgical Cleft Palate/Lip Team. Both nurses will read and discuss a story they penned together,“Susy,” about a medical mission to Barillas, Guatemala.        

An excerpt from the story, "Susy," by Sue Averill & Bette Coulter.

"All eyes watched the fine crimson streak that followed the surgeon’s scalpel as he traced it across the woman’s swollen belly. Immediately, the Finnish nurse jumped in and said the opening he made was not big enough to pull a mouse through, let alone a baby. He hesitated and she nodded for him to continue. He carved a beautiful line. After all, the seventy five year old doctor was a plastic surgeon, not an obstetrician." 

A Piece of My Heart - Becky Elder, FNP

  One Nurse At A Time's first scholarship nurse for 2011, Becky Elder, recently returned from a medical mission in Guatemala with the organization Hearts in Motion (http://www.heartsinmotion.org/ )   Becky writes:

I knew this trip would be meaningful.  I did not know it would be a personal awakening ′as to who I was and what purpose I bring to this world.  I have lived a week in Guatemala and my life will forever be changed by those who touched my life and therefore touched my heart.  I broke off a piece of my heart and left it in Guatemala.  Someday I will return.

Have you participated in any medical missions in the past?  Is it something you'd like to do in the future?  Where have YOU left a piece of your heart?  

We look forward to hearing from you!

~Nancy

ONE NURSE AT A TIME - Changing the World One Nurse at a Time

     ONE NURSE AT A TIME (ONAAT) is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization created by nurses who are passionate about giving back to their local and global community through volunteer and humanitarian medical pursuits. We are dedicated to assisting other nurses enhance our profession as they too, look for opportunities to serve locally, nationally and internationally.

      One Nurse At A Time was co-founded by Sue Averill and Staci Kelley in 2007as a private, volunteer staffed, nonsectarian, nonpolitical organization whose mission is to encourage and support nurses in humanitarian work both at home and abroad. Both serve as officers for the organization: Sue as President and Treasurer; and Staci as Vice President and Secretary. In 2010 they added Nancy Harless as Communications Officer whose role is to increase public awareness of ONAAT in the media. ONAAT is currently taking applications for volunteers. You may summit your letter of interest and CV via email to:  onenurseatatime@gmail.com

     ONAAT currently provides a three prong approach that supports nurses in their volunteer endeavors: 1) We provide an annually updated Central Data Base of organizations who  provide medical missions internationally, and in the United States of America. 2) We offer nursing scholarships to nurses who volunteer abroad to help defer their cost of volunteer and 3) We provide networking between nurses and with the general public. This is a huge part of our organization and vital to encouraging nurses to get involved in humanitarian and volunteer nursing.   We speak at public forums, maintain an active presence on Internet social networks, write articles and stories; and we reach out and to educate the public regarding the depth and breadth of humanitarian nursing. 

     We are funded through donations, fund raisers and grants and are committed to returning 80%, or more, of the monies raised through these sources toward nursing scholarships. A smaller amount of the annual budget goes toward operational expenses. In keeping with the model of transparency ONAAT maintains pristine records and makes all financial records available to the public on an annual basis and upon request. You can easily make tax-deductable donations via our website by credit card or Pay Pal.