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Student Missionary Nurses One Year Volunteer Nursing Helping in Adventist Hospital Del Sureste in Villahermosa |
 I
always dreamed of being a missionary doctor. I remember this dream started
back when I was about 14 years old. In college after marriage, my husband
who had dreams of being a missionary doctor, changed his mind. We changed
to nursing classes. I continued praying to go on to medicine as my
ultimate goal.
While my husband and I were studying nursing at Walla Walla College, the opportunity came up to spend a year volunteer nursing in Southern Mexico in the state of Tabasco. This little hospital in Villahermosa wanted nurse help for a year. The chaplain Hartnell of our hospital in Portland had just experienced the trauma of the death of his daughter. He and his wife set up a memorial fund and wanted to put it towards a student missionary nurse. My husband and I were matched up with those funds and we arranged all our things to be stored for a year. We chose to drive down in order to make the available funds stretch to cover our transport into Mexico. |
| This turned out to be the most important year and a turning point in our lives. We had so many answers to prayer that year. Just getting down to our destination was a challenge. We had so many surprises and difficulties. |
  Since
my grandparents were self supporting missionaries in Colima, Mexico, we
chose to drive through and see them on the way. They were educated to
about the 3rd grade and worked hard all their lives. (On the right is a
younger picture of them. On the left is their home in Mexico) At retirement age,
they packed up and moved to Mexico to raise up a church and live God's
love among the people there. They built a cute little home out in the
country. |
| When we arrived in Villahermosa in front of the hospital, we were on our last dime. We had used car tools in gift to mechanics to help with car repairs. We were exhausted ready for some rest. A young man came out to greet us and they were so kind. We did not know any Spanish and by motioning we needed a place to sleep were given a room. We were not street wise. We left our belongings tied to the car top and a couple hours later, a screaming man was pounding on our door. From the roof top of the hospital he had seen a robber unload our things and run. The man we thought was night watch man had gone to bed with the key. The robber had plenty of time to take all our things before a key could be found. I stood out in the street and wept. I wanted to go home immediately. All we had left was a few items and the clothes on our backs to manage for a year with no pay. My dear husband placed his arms about me and reminded me we were on our last dime. At the end of the year the nursing class would raise funds to get us home. We had to be tough. |
  My
interest in little babies showed whenever one was born. I wanted to give
the bath and do the nursing cares I had learned in training. We were in
our last year of nurses training and I had spent many hours helping in the
nursery in Portland, Oregon. So the head nurse assigned me the job of
making a nursery for the hospital. She was thrilled at the ways I came up
with organizing and setting it up so each baby had a clean crib and a
place for diapers and things. My nurse helpers were also students at the
ages of 12 and 13. There were so many simple things they needed to be
taught. Washing hands after changing a dirty diaper and before mixing the
formula powder with water was a lesson so hard for them to remember. I
could see the remnants on their hands and urged them over and over to
clean their hands. Many had exposure to TB and we took precautions. |
| No
sooner had I gotten the nursery curtains, bed sheets and blankets, and
baby gowns sewn on my machine when we were presented with the first baby. I
spent seven days a week in that little room teaching girls how to operate
a nursery American style. The way it was done previously was each baby was
the responsibility of the patient family. Each time the baby wet, a
relative would place a sweater, or some garment under it. Babies were not
bathed and the umbilical cord was bound tightly with a coin over it. It
was never cleaned. The baby bottles were dirty and rinsed in one big pot
of lukewarm water at the nurses station. The challenges were enormous for
a young nurse of so little experience and only 24 years of age. I grew up
a lot that year! Jesus heard from me every day, many times a day. |
I
began to fear that soon there would be a premature baby and I had no
equipment. How would I know how much oxygen to give it without blood
gasses and a mixer or any thing. I just had a tank of oxygen which was
often borrowed to other places of the hospital. Then little Gorge was
brought to me. He was so tiny. He weighed 1.6 kg. Using a primitive
incubator and a hose straight from the oxygen tank, I nursed him around
the clock. I was on my knees constantly asking God to be the doctor and
tell me what to do next. I never prayed so hard in all my life. After 48
hours, I had shown the little student girls what to watch for, and I
had to get a nap. My head was falling onto my arms while I was trying to
tube feed him. I had them dropper feed him. When he stopped eating and
became jaundiced I feared for his life. I had no way of checking his
bilirubin levels.
I had read while in nursing training at college that some hospitals in
other countries had been successful using a tiny bit of charcoal in water.
I put some droppers of charcoal in his mouth before each feeding. He was
dropping weight. I took him out in the sun for that also had been reported
as helping. We had no direct sunlight or bili lights. I held him and
turned him in the tropical sun for a short 5 minutes. His appetite
returned and his color improved. Daily God helped me meet his needs. I
sang every day to keep up my courage. The happy mothers watched from the
windows. They said I was teaching their babies to sing in English. Finally
little Gorge went home. His mother brought him back to show how well he
was doing when he was several months old. His mother came often to learn
of Jesus. Each baby received a gift from me. It was a Steps to Christ with
baby foot prints, date of birth, weight and a little note. I discovered
many mothers placed it over babies head to keep them safe. It was in
Spanish but so many could not read. |
 A
little 2 year old boy came in with a bad case of Tetanus. They do their
best to live clean in the most primitive setting. His case of tetanus was
reported to have occurred from the wound site of a dirty needle. He was in
the final stages. I determined that by the worry on the doctors faces and
by what I read in my nursing books. He was contracting over backwards in
seizure every few minutes. Doctors asked us what was done in America. We
had never seen a case because of immunizations. I prayed for help to the
GREAT DOCTOR WHO NEVER LOOSES A CASE. I was impressed to use what I had
learned about charcoal. I asked God how to do it. He impressed me to find
a tub and put warm water and charcoal in it. It was hard to find a tub.
Each room only had a shower. I found a little plastic one and tried to get
the little child in it. His IV was in his arm. He had been given
antitoxin and valium often through the IV. He was loosing his battle to
live. While we put most of his body in the water we had a struggle to keep
him there during his constant seizures. We kept him there as long as our
strength lasted. Every two hours we repeated the procedure. I went up on
the flat roof to pray in between treatments. After two or three days of
this, he recovered. All were amazed. Deaths from Tetanus were common. They
came to me every time a case came in after that. |
 My
husband worked in surgery and in the day clinic. We longed for a day off
together. It was a very busy year. We learned so much and prayed a lot.
Some other student missionaries were near by at Linda Vista so we headed
off to visit them. It was great hearing our own language. We were learning
Spanish fast for no one could speak anything else. We longed for
fellowship. It was a real treat to be with Ingrid, Gary, and Roger. One
week during Easter, we decided to take time off and go south as far as we
could.  Well, we
enjoyed most of the trip but when it began to rain we really prayed about
our progress on a dirt road. The slippery mud wanted to swallow our car.
The belt came off and had to be returned so many times. The engine was
covered with mud. We prayed so desperately for help. I think angels helped
push us several times. The other part of the miracle is that the engine
continued running. |
 After
a year of many impressive answers to prayer, the desire grew in my heart
to train as a doctor and return as a missionary doctor. I prayed for this
for years. I applied to several schools and the door was shut in my face
so many times. Yet, the dream lived on. I prayed and prayed for God to let
me work for Him as a missionary doctor. I believe He planted this desire
and drive in my heart. During every experience in medical school
that was hard, I would lift my eyes to heaven and ask God to help me train
for HIS service as a missionary doctor. He helped me through every trial
and through internship and residency in family practice. He helped me in
every board exam I took. I was thrilled when I passed the Family Practice
Certification exam in Florida in 1990 when my third little son was only 7
months old. |
| God has answered that dream. I have driven down and flown down into Southern Mexico several times to doctor and hold meetings. God provided the funds through the generous heart of my sister Jeanie to fly down with my children twice. God gave me a car to drive the 10,000 miles down also. My heart wishes and dreams to do this three times a year if only the funds to do this were available to me. I dream and pray that I can go to a little mountain village where the president of that region has invited me. Answering the cries of the sick and poor, bringing them hope gives me a joy that is hard to describe. My children also are learning this joy. None of them ever want to be left behind. They pick up the language much faster than I yet in Spanish I have an edge due to the year I spent when I was in my twenties. Each has a job in clinics, porting items, taking blood pressures, and the list is endless. God has given us the privilege of doing this not because we are perfect, but in spite of our problems. |