Reflection on Haitian Paediatric Nurses

November 29th, 2010 | Author: Terri

Karen Schafer doing classroom instruction

Berni assisting with CPR practice

Teaching neonatal resuscitation

Fernande Charles presenting completion certificates

The following post was written by Berni Koppe:
From October 9th – 24th I had the privilege of going to Haiti as part of the 3 person team whose goal was to provide neonatal nursing education in Port au Prince. Here are some thoughts I would like to share about this amazing experience.
The nurses work under extremely difficult conditions. They care for as many as 15 children in different rooms. There is virtually no functioning equipment to assist the nurses in caring for severely ill neonates.They never wilted in the heat nor complained of being tired or overwhelmed.  Despite these challenging conditions these nurses have not lost their sense of humour and their ability to laugh.
These nurses were very grateful for this seminar as there is little opportunity for continuing education after graduation. They were totally engaged in the teaching.  Many of them came to class with questions about the previous days teaching which to me demonstrated critical thinking on the content. One nurse attended the teaching at 9:00 a.m after completing her night shift at 6:00 that morning.
If I could use one sentence to describe this amazing group of nurses it would “dignified and with grace under extreme pressure”.
Their parting words were “please don’t forget us and please come back”.
Berni

Posted in Haiti