What Nurses Learn and Found in Haiti

Here is a New Organization to help Haiti.

American nurses who went to Haiti in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake that struck the island nation last month say they used common sense, basic nursing skills, and whatever equipment and materials were on hand to care for Haitians .
 Ted Alexander, a retired orthopedic surgeon who was a battalion surgeon during the war was quoted saying:"This is Vietnam — only we had better equipment then." (USA Today)

  
Donna Martsolf RN and her physician husband, Robert, were supposed to be in Haiti for two days when the earthquake hit about an hour after they landed at the Port-au-Prince airport. Because of the quake, the couple never reached their destination. Instead, they spent the first night working with members of Doctors Without Borders in the relief agency’s administrative offices providing first aid to Haitians with broken bones, lacerations and other injuries. They used cardboard boxes and pieces of wood pallets as splints held together with ace bandages to immobilize compound fractures.

Most of the nurses arrived with humanitarian relief agencies or other organizations. (Nursing Spectrum) They were located at hospitals in varying states of disrepair in different parts of the country. Supplies, they say, were not necessarily scarce, they were just stored in locations that were not easily accessible.

Although pallets of supplies were nearby, no one was distributing the material. Healthcare workers dug through the supplies looking for what they needed, leaving the rest in a heap. Also, the equipment was often incompatible because it was sent from different countries, Browning says. There were sets of needleless tubing and tubing that required needles. “We never had enough needles,” he says. “We had to be creative, putting anything we could at the end of the tubing and then taping it all together.”
 

Combining Nursing with Writing

One nurse author whom I have enjoyed reading is Echo Heron. I was reminded of her when I  I received an e-mail from a 58 year old female who likes to write and was wondering about starting a nursing career - one of her dreams. I am posting my reply to her on my blog as I feel it may answer questions that others may have.

I feel that anyone can achieve their dreams if they want to bad enough.

That said nursing is a very physically demanding job. Nursing school is quite rigorous. I know that at this age I could never accomplish what I did to get through nursing school. But then I also worked my way through school - 32 hours a week as a nurse's aide all while taking 18 - 21 credit hours per semester. My body was young and able at that time.

I don't want to discourage you. There are specialties which may require less rigor than others and may allow for an older starting age. For instance if you futher your education to become a nurse practioner you can have your own practice - that is in the US. I am not sure about regulations in Australia. Consider though that by the time your schooling is finished you will have reached what most people consider retirement age.