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Volunteer Connections 

Dr. Jill Derstine has been an HVO member and volunteer since the 90s and in that time has served as director for a number of HVO’s nursing projects. She is also a current steering committee member along with Mrs. Patty Rogers, who has served additionally as the director of the HVO nursing project in Cambodia since 2019.  

But before the two volunteered together with HVO, they crossed paths at another time in their lives as student and teacher. Here, they recount how they met and how they reconnected through HVO so many years later. 

I was working in the hospital full time as an RN when I began pursuing my BSN in 1986. I remember being in very large classes and hearing Dr. Derstine lecture. In that course, I was inspired to take an elective transcultural practicum where I did my very first home visits to a Cambodian family who had a child with Down Syndrome.  

Fast forward 30 years later. After raising my own kids and caring for my parents who both had dementia, I was finally able to explore volunteering abroad. I found HVO’s website and was delighted to recognize Jill’s name as the project director for Sihanouk Hospital Center of HOPE in Phnom Penh. We chatted at length, and she gave me the confidence I needed to travel so far from home. And she was right; the connections I made are so special. I will go back! 

We met as student and faculty member at Jefferson University in the eighties. I got involved with HVO in 1994 as a participant in the Vietnam rehabilitation project funded by USAID. I have been to several sites in Vietnam, starting with the rehab project and then several individual nursing projects. I did some work in Cambodia, starting that relationship with HVO and then filling in as a temporary project director. Patty applied to volunteer there and we realized our past connection. She was a good fit and definitely made some inroads there. Immediately, I thought she would be an excellent project director and suggested her for the role. She has not disappointed me in this venture!  Her ideas and subsequent activities with the Cambodian nurses continue to improve the project. I feel so proud of her and the fact that she is continuing work that is so meaningful to me. 

We love hearing about the wonderful connections and relationships formed and developed in our community. Strong relationships, based on collaboration, respect, and trust are what make us successful at building sustainable change where we work. These relationships can also bring positive change to volunteers’ lives, as Dr. Derstine did for Mrs. Rogers in giving her the confidence to visit Cambodia.   

Our special thanks to Dr. Derstine and Mrs. Rogers for all their efforts on our nursing program. We are happy to be part of their story!