"Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it." Hardy D. Jackson
The adventure begins! I'm not sure if all of you know my story so I guess that's the best place to start. I've been working in the American healthcare system since 2003, roughly 11 years now. I started out as an RN working in the pediatric intensive care unit at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (basically Stanford's Children's Hospital). As you can imagine "intensive care" lived up to it's name. About a month in I experienced my first patient death. She was a young 14 year-old girl who died from complications of severe Steven Johnson's syndrome. I was horrified. I left the hospital that day jarred by the reality of just how short life is and just how lucky I was to live all to the ripe old age of 23! It seemed like such a waste that many of my days just floated by without much awareness, and here this beautiful 14 year girl didn't have such a luxury. That day I made a promise to myself. "No longer will I let life passively slip by, I will live intentionally, making my moments matter because that is the best way to honor those who are not afforded the same chance."
From Packard I became a travel nurse. I wanted more time to follow my passion of practicing medicine abroad. I wanted to bring my skills and resources to children in the developing world. This started my nomad phase. I traveled around the states working in Seattle, NYC and Miami, carrying only what fit in my car. In between contracted assignments I lived out my dream. I volunteered twice with For Hearts and Souls in Mongolia, where I rode around in an old Russian school bus delivering health care to the most rural reaches of the Gobi desert. I recovered children after heart surgery in Ulaanbaatar. I traveled to Morocco, India, Uzbekistan, Senegal, D.R. Congo, Brazil, Guatemala and Egypt with Operation Smile, helping repair facial deformities. It was in these weeks abroad I felt happiest. Despite the long hours, poor resources and frustrating infrastructure problems, I loved every minute. I felt fulfilled, it felt like medicine in it's purest form. My heart felt lighter, freer to give all the love I felt bubbling up inside.
It was on a mission through the Gobi desert that I realized my next step. We set up a make-shift clinic in a rickety old structure in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere. The electricity was spotty at best and it decided to turn off as night fell. Families who heard word that we were providing free health care traveled for hours, some for days to reach our little shack. Some came on camels, some on horse and some by foot. Yet without electricity, we could only see patients until sunset. I was triaging, taking vitals and noting basic complaints in the front, while our doctors and nurse practitioners were doing their best to see as many patients as possible. As I looked out the door at the line of 5 or 6 distraught looking mothers, women who sacrificed so much just to be seen by a medical provider, I knew I needed to do more. If I had more knowledge, more skills, less of these women would be standing outside. I needed to go back to school to become a nurse practitioner.
If you feel inspired to help me serve you can donate to my mission by clicking here. Every little bit helps! Thank you for your support! I could not do any of this without you!
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