Nurses in Swaziland

I ran across this article about how the nurses are doing in Swaziland called "SWAZILAND: Enough is enough, say nurses" . They have a pretty interesting nursing culture.

The nurses in the hospitals and clinics are taking care of a dying population many times with not enough room, medication, or staffing. Sometimes they are even with out the basics like running water and electricity.

Yet they continue to care for those hurt and sick the best they can. With the limited experiences I've had visiting the clinics and hospitals in Swaziland, I find that they are worn out. Family member are to stay with the patient to help prove meals, assist with basic care, and to be an advocate for the patient.

Isn't this an interesting way to create traction for a hurt leg?

I was able to talk with a nurse in the hospital in Big Bend, Swaziland, once and you could see that she loved nursing and was very medically knowledgeable for the resources and technological equipment they have. But she was tired of being so understaffed and having little to no supplies.

We talked about switching jobs, she would take my job in America and I'd take her job in Swaziland ;)

I find myself blessed and privileged for being able to nurse in America. The hospital I work at is well stocked with medical supplies, the pharmacy is rarely in want, and we are staffed well. Our hospital building, I tease, is like the Hilton Hotel. Beautiful artwork adorns the walls at every bend, the color choices are soothing and fresh, patients have grand one patient rooms with individual bathrooms (could you imagine sharing one toilet with 30 other sick people in Swazi?), and we have security guards who come within a minutes notice.

Sometimes I catch myself as I sit in front of my personal nursing pod with computer and telephone at hand, day dreaming about how many people I could treat in Swaziland with a hospital overflowing with medical supplies, medications, and staffing.
In my minds eyes I have knocked down many of the walls in our wing (keeping all the glorious bathrooms intact ;) making it one big corridor.

I see the lines of people resting in comfortable, clean beds. People that we could treat and care for. I see the nutritionists making sure they are fed properly with our delicious selections of hospital food (although some may think delicious and hospital food should not belong in the same sentence ;).

But alas, this will never be.

I'm excited to be learning to care for people medically in Swaziland! I know that God is preparing me now in known and unknow ways in the hopsital. I will be taking a class sometime this summer for two weeks that will teach me how to nurse in a third world country.

Some consider me crazy to move to Swaziland to nurse. Maybe they're right. All I know is that God has placed on my heart and called me to go help care for His people not only physically but spiritually wherever He leads. It just so happens that He is leading me to Swaziland right now!

This is His promise:

Isaiah 58: 10-12

If you feed those who are hungry and take care of the needs of those who are troubled, then your light will shine in the darkness, and you will be bright like sunshine at noon. The LORD will always lead you. He will satisfy your needs in dry lands and give strength to your bones. You will be like a garden that has much water, like a spring that never runs dry.