|
| Jessica Walkup (left), a 2004 graduate of the Bluefield State College Associate Degree Nursing Program, returned to her alma mater recently to share her experiences on a medical mission trip to West Africa. She was invited by BSC nursing faculty member Sandra Kay Thompson (right) to speak to Thompson's "Community Nursing" class. |
( Bluefield)—Two years ago, Jessica Walkup was wrapping up degree requirements in the Associate Degree Nursing program at Bluefield State College. A year ago, she traveled to West Africa on a hospital ship that brought desperately needed health care to Liberia and Benin in West Africa. This week, she shared her experiences with students in BSC’s “Community Nursing” class.
“Jessica has taken community health to an entirely new level,” noted Sandra “Kay” Thompson, the BSC Associate Degree Nursing faculty member who invited Walkup to speak to the class.
A Pocahontas County native who graduated from BSC’s ADN program in 2004, Walkup learned through a friend’s experience about Mercy Ships, a Christian-based organization that uses hospital ships to serve the world’s poor. “Today, there are three ships that bring hope and healing to some of the world’ most needy people,” Walkup explained. Shortly after graduating from BSC and passing her nursing licensure exam, Walkup boarded the Mercy Ship “Anastasis,” headed for West Africa.
“We traveled to Benin, West Africa for four months,” she recounted. Working as a dental receptionist, she traveled to villages and set up clinics. “I prayed that God would give me a heart for Africa, and I got it,” she said. “Most people in Benin had ‘zero access’ to health care. Her team conducted nearly 430 surgical procedures, treating more than 2000 patients and providing health education classes.
During April, 2005, Walkup’s team moved to Liberia--a nation, she noted, that has only one physician for every 50,000 people. “There was little concept of proper hygiene,” she said. “Some people believed that birth deformities came about because a baby or its parents were evil, and sometimes the baby was left to die. Some Liberians believed that tumors were the result of a curse placed upon people for being evil. We told people that these conditions didn’t occur because people were evil. They happened for medically-related reasons. We loved these patients.”
“ Liberia is still unstable after a lengthy civil war,” she added. “It’s a very poor country with no permanent electricity and no running water. The scars of civil war are very evident. Some people have bullet wounds. Others have scars from burns.”
Walkup recalled one patient, in particular. “He was named Prince, a small seven year-old who suffered from burn contractures. When he was four, rebels had shot his father, then poured boiling water over him,” she said. “His mother grabbed him and fled, but in the three years since that time, scarring had severely deformed his neck, shoulder, and arm. Even though the surgery and rehabilitation were very painful, she noted, he regained some range of motion and, along the way, he became a very special patient to several members of the team.
Preparing to return to West Africa on a Mercy Ship vessel next month, Walkup encouraged students in the Community Nursing class to consider medical mission trips. “Take the opportunity and go,” she said. “It’s a life-changing experience, and it gives you a true opportunity to see what compassion can do.”
“Jessica has done a wonderful job of explaining how culture impacts health care,” Thompson observed. Additional information about Mercy Ships can be obtained by visiting the website www.mercyships.org.
School of Nursing & Allied Health Website
February 6, 2006
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
|
|
|
|
|