Medical Missions
Posted by Bill Molesworth
Lois Scherloski introduced Shirley Trudeau as one of the unsung volunteers of the community who has, since her retirement, been taking help to the underpriviledged around the world. Shirley worked as an emergency room nurse at Penetang and Huronia District hospitals for over 30 years.
Shirley said she was still learning to speak in public and started by thanking Rotary for its support of her efforts in the past. When she goes she takes Medical Travel Packs loaded with $5,000.00 worth of drugs, bandages and etc., all designed for the destination.
She asked the club to imagine their life without their conveniences - no appliances, no entertainment, no flooring, not even screens on the windows much less A/C. Instead you do your cooking on an open fire, your laundry in the river, your whole family his infested with parasites and infections and there's no medicin or doctor.
Millions are spent each year on pets in NA but there are millions of people struggling to survive. Our kids are overindulged and overfed but there are millions infected with disease, left as orphans.
The missions she goes on rely on donations. They are Christian motivated. Each year about 70 go to 45 countries and serve about 300,000 patients. The services offered depend on the skills of those on each individual mission and on the requirements of the area. She admitted that the evangelicals that go along can intrude on the work which she thinks is more important.
The participants sleep in hostels or tents, usually have access to cold water only, travel by bus or walking and suffer from a real lack of privacy. She hopes to complete 10 and has just returned from her sixth.
In 1990 she accompanied an opthamolagist to Jamaica and assisted him to do 17 cataract operations a day. In the Dominican Republlic in 2003 she worked on 90 surgeries in a week. In 2004 she went to Nepal where her team worked on reconstructive surgery for lepers. She hopes to go to Peru next year. She regards this work as a way to extend her nursing career in a practical way.
Shirley feels that a large part of the problem is local corruption which siphons off the funds and materials from those who need it most. She cited one man she talked to who had worked all day for a bag of rice with a hole in it. He was careful to pick every kernel up out of the dust and keep his thumb over the hole. The infrastucture every where she goes is practically non existent - she described driving down into potholes and then down into river valleys because the bridges are gone.
She again thanked the Club for its support of her work.
President Mike commended Shirleys outstanding effort and thanked her for sharing her experiences with the Club.
She asked the club to imagine their life without their conveniences - no appliances, no entertainment, no flooring, not even screens on the windows much less A/C. Instead you do your cooking on an open fire, your laundry in the river, your whole family his infested with parasites and infections and there's no medicin or doctor.
Millions are spent each year on pets in NA but there are millions of people struggling to survive. Our kids are overindulged and overfed but there are millions infected with disease, left as orphans.
The missions she goes on rely on donations. They are Christian motivated. Each year about 70 go to 45 countries and serve about 300,000 patients. The services offered depend on the skills of those on each individual mission and on the requirements of the area. She admitted that the evangelicals that go along can intrude on the work which she thinks is more important.
The participants sleep in hostels or tents, usually have access to cold water only, travel by bus or walking and suffer from a real lack of privacy. She hopes to complete 10 and has just returned from her sixth.
In 1990 she accompanied an opthamolagist to Jamaica and assisted him to do 17 cataract operations a day. In the Dominican Republlic in 2003 she worked on 90 surgeries in a week. In 2004 she went to Nepal where her team worked on reconstructive surgery for lepers. She hopes to go to Peru next year. She regards this work as a way to extend her nursing career in a practical way.
Shirley feels that a large part of the problem is local corruption which siphons off the funds and materials from those who need it most. She cited one man she talked to who had worked all day for a bag of rice with a hole in it. He was careful to pick every kernel up out of the dust and keep his thumb over the hole. The infrastucture every where she goes is practically non existent - she described driving down into potholes and then down into river valleys because the bridges are gone.
She again thanked the Club for its support of her work.
President Mike commended Shirleys outstanding effort and thanked her for sharing her experiences with the Club.