Nurses demonstrate healing spirit at SRW
Mary Dowling, RN, and Lisa Fernandez, BSN
This article originally appeared on the Nursing Matters Website. Reprinted with permission.
Click here to see the article on the Nursing Matters web site.
This time of year our thoughts turn to the holidays, a time to celebrate the gifts and blessings we enjoy throughout the year.
Tradition holds that the first Thanksgiving Day was observed December 13, 1621. Of the 102 who arrived on the Mayflower 14 months before, half had died, claimed by the struggles of poverty, want and illness. It was only the assistance of the peaceful Wampanogian Indian tribe that allowed the settlers to provide for themselves and overcome the prospects of starvation, exposure, and illness as the winter of 1621 approached. Working side by side, the two peoples planted more than just vegetable seeds - they also planted seeds of cooperation, friendship and trust.
Sharing Resources Worldwide, too, is in the business of building international friendships and improving lives. Here are examples of seeds planted in the recent past.
A total of 22, 40-foot containers left our Madison dock last year for destinations worldwide. Those shipments, plus items carried in luggage, saved more than 368 tons of equipment and supplies from landfills, and gave these items a new purpose - providing hope to thousands.
SRW delivered hundreds of hospital beds, operating-room supplies, disinfectants, dressings and other medical equipment to Russia, the Philippines, and other parts of the world.
SRW's wheelchair project in Nicaragua provided 130 wheelchairs last year, releasing many from the "house arrest" of their own disabilities. These folks are now part of a community, where they can offer their skills and share all they are with their families and friends.
Mountain schools in Nicaragua have desks for their students, and those students have school supplies, all of which arrived in SRW shipments.
During an eight-day medical mission in Honduras, in February 2006, SRW surgeons operated on 70 children, bringing them a new life free from the eye and orthopedic problems that restricted them. Thus, 70 families, neighborhoods, schools, and communities share the joy and benefit provided by just five busy days in the operating room.
Working in Peru in March 2006, an SRW medical team completed 47 eye surgeries on children of that country. The local surgeons were very appreciative of our assistance, friendship and donated equipment and supplies.
In June 2006, a small SRW team traveled to Guinea, Africa on an eyeglass mission. They examined 585 patients and brought improved vision to 420 who received eyeglasses. Corrected vision is now allowing the recipients to work, provide for themselves, and see clearly the faces of their loved ones.
This month, we celebrate a bountiful harvest. We give thanks for the abundance that allows us to share with others. SRW seeks to share with the needy a bit of the plenty in our land. With your generous support, we can continue to produce a harvest of freedom, dignity, hope, goodwill and improved health around the world.
Thank you for your past support, and for considering a donation to our programs at this time. Contributions can be sent to Sharing Resources Worldwide, 4417 Robertson Road, Madison, Wis., 53714.
Mary Dowling and Lisa Fernandez are co-founders and co-directors of SRW, in addition to their positions as staff nurses.
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©2007 Sharing Resources Worldwide