Early this year, HVO began collecting stories from around the world. We asked our volunteers, leaders, and overseas partners to share their stories – the tales of compassion, commitment and determination that inspire them. As HVO celebrates its 30th anniversary, we are also gathering stories that highlight the dedicated work of our global health community throughout our three decades of operation.
These stories celebrate health workers around the world. They highlight how HVO volunteers have empowered providers, strengthened health systems, and expanded their own professional knowledge, skills and commitment. We have shared some of these stories already:
- Ms. Kirsten Kristensen told her story about how a love for travel and passion for rehabilitative care took her on assignments around the globe, where she met inspiring colleagues – individuals dedicated to their field despite challenging circumstances.
- Our overseas partners have shared examples of new procedures and best practices introduced by HVO volunteers that have led to improved health outcomes for their patients. In Indonesia, Dr. Leila Srour introduced growth monitoring tools and skills to local providers that allow earlier diagnosis and treatment for children with growth disorders. This can lead to better outcomes for these young patients.
- HVO volunteers and leaders have reported on the hard work and dedication of the HVO on-site coordinators they encounter while on assignment. One on-site coordinator has been praised for his role in furthering the practice of anesthesia both at the facility where he works and throughout his country. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Chung demonstrates the profound impact of a dedicated health worker who values education and professional opportunity for his colleagues and students.
- Our volunteers repeatedly demonstrate their dedication to improving access to and quality of global health care. This year, we’ve had the opportunity to tell several stories of their service, and we look forward to sharing more. You can read about the career and work of RADM Julia Plotnick, Dr. Sam Baker and Dr. Lena Dohlman, and look for more of these features in our Volunteer Connection and in future blog posts.
- Nowhere is HVO’s impact more apparent than in the stories of individuals whose lives have been transformed by the work of our volunteers to increase access to health care and education.
While varied in topic, time and place, the stories we have gathered all have one thing in common: they illustrate the central role of people in global health. At every level of health – from the ill and injured who seek care to the health worker who serves them to the donor who makes the education of that health worker possible – people lay at the heart of these stories.
In the final months of 2016, we invite you to celebrate these stories – and HVO’s 30 years of impact – by making a gift to HVO.
You can honor the work that has been done and contribute to efforts to do more. You can bring education and opportunity to health workers in resource-scarce countries. You can become part of the story.
Make you 2016 contribution today.
