This week HVO is celebrating our nursing volunteers in honor of National Nurses Week. What impact do our nursing volunteers have on the institutions where they serve and the health workers they train, and what do they gain in return? We thought we would let them tell you in their own words.
Ellen Milan, RNC-NIC, a long-time volunteer at HVO’s nursing education project in Uganda, has been told her visits help boost staff morale. This is especially important as Milan volunteers in the Special Care Babies Unit (SCBU), where the hours are long, the nurses are few, and the challenges are many. After her most recent trip she wrote:
The nurses and head physician of the SCBU both commented that having us (volunteers) in the unit, improves their morale, knowing that we care about them, that we understand their daily challenges… and that we are committed to their education and supporting them in providing quality care to their babies and their families with love and compassion.”
Many repeat volunteers build relationships with local health workers and are able to see the long-term impact of their teaching first-hand, here are a few such stories:
I first began working in the Department of Community Health (Zimbabwe) in 1995. One of my former students, Mr. T., later became a part time lecturer for the department, and we connected two or three times. This last year, he developed a culturally appropriate program to help people suffering with post traumatic stress. We worked together via the internet until I came back to Zimbabwe. He had left the department at that time, but we discussed his goals and his program. I spoke with some Zimbabwean professionals about the plans, and then introduced Mr. T. to others. My husband and I arranged for Mr. T to speak with the principal and the secretary of a small Christian college about the program. They were both very excited with the prospects, but were concerned about getting permission from their Zimbabwean board, and their affiliate board in the US. No problems there. I had already discussed it with the Zimbabwean board chairman, and he was eager. I knew the US chairperson and contacted him. When I left, my work was done, and a new theory-based, culturally sound mental health program should be starting soon.”
–Sue Alice Erickson, PhD, MS, RN, Malawi
HVO volunteer Ann Carroll and I have been working with and ‘mentoring’ a midwife in Mulago’s Special Care Baby Unit, Damalie Mwogererwa, since 2002. Ann and I have also worked with and mentored Agnes Kirikumwino since our first assignment in Mulago’s SCBU in 2001. Damalie and Agnes are active in identifying teaching needs in other healthcare facilities in Kampala (and other areas of Uganda) and incorporating me in their teaching. They believe that teaching healthcare workers in other facilities may potentially decrease the number of referrals to Mulago and improve neonatal care throughout Uganda. Damalie and Agnes are very effective teachers, delivering the materials I developed knowledgeably, maintaining the interest of the learners and receiving the respect of their Ugandan colleagues. Damalie Mwogererwa is active in Uganda’s Helping Babies Breathe-Plus Program. Damalie is well known in Uganda’s healthcare community as a knowledgeable and effective teacher. She was recently featured in a Helping Babies Breathe video.”
–Ellen Milan, RNC-NIC, Uganda
“This trip to Uganda was an example of how long term relationships with local health professionals and volunteers who learn and listen to their needs can come together to result in a synergistic experience for both parties. We were able to bring added value to the ongoing work in diabetes care and training being done by the physicians and nurses at Mulago Hospital and the staff at the nursing school of Makerere University. In all it was a satisfying visit, leaving us with many ideas for future directions in collaborative work.”
–Linda Baumann, PhD, RN, Uganda
After her 2013 trip to Cambodia, Bonnie Rathod, RN, MN, felt that, even more than the knowledge she was able to impart to trainees, her greatest contribution was that her visit helped to promote the nursing profession:
I felt my major contribution was not the actual nursing content I taught, but that I helped to promote the profession of nursing, and our ever expanding role. These hard working nurses were motivated and engaged; given the opportunity I felt they would all do what they could to increase their own nursing education, as well as enhance the nursing profession in Cambodia.”
It is not unusual for volunteers to draw inspiration from their colleagues overseas, and to return feeling they learned even more than they taught.
I continue to return to the Special Care Nursery because of the relationship that I have developed with the nursing staff. I have been told that the volunteers boost their morale and give them hope so that they continue to work under these most challenging conditions. I have the utmost respect for these nurses. They are responsible, committed professionals who have worked for many years in an environment without support from administration. The commitment of the nursing staff and the mothers of these babies is what makes any survival possible.”
–Ann Carroll, BSN, NNP-BC, Uganda
Observing nurses in Tanzania and witnessing their ingenuity and tenacity is a humbling experience. I have learned from them as much as I hoped they learned from me.”
–Rose McGrath, RN, Tanzania
HVO is so grateful for the hard work and dedication of all our nurse volunteers, and that of the local nurses at our project sites—during this and every Week!