UW Bothell: 20 Years of Service
By Hillary Sara U & Elizabeth Fischtziur
Caring Around the World
During this year of reflection on UW Bothell’s 20 year history, it is important to note the many accomplishments of our students and their many positive contributions both at the local and international level. Recent Master of Nursing graduate Lily Pang (’10) is a great example. Though she works daily in Seattle, her passion and talents have taken her around the world, providing expert nursing care to those in need. This year, Lily had the unique opportunity to serve on two traveling nursing teams, one in Ghana and the other in post-earthquake Haiti.
Although Lily had over 19 years of experience in the nursing profession stateside, she wanted to do more, to be challenged professionally as well as personally. Says Lily, "It has always been a lofty dream of mine to travel to needy countries to help, but until I started school again, I never had the gumption to make it happen."
Luckily for Lily, the opportunity of a lifetime presented itself to her in January 2010. The Cincinnati Children’s Hospital was preparing to go on a medical mission to Accra, Ghana and was seeking volunteers. Right away Lily knew that this was something she wanted to do. She jumped at the chance to pack up and travel to a country where she would be able to help many children in need.
While in Ghana, Lily worked 12-14 hour days as a scrub and circulation nurse. She served as an instrument cleaner and sterilizer, organized supplies and, most importantly, assisted with anesthesia and surgeries. Her experiences in surgical care were remarkable as she learned of the dramatic differences between the U.S. and Ghana healthcare systems
She learned how basic medical care was viewed as a luxury when she met a beautiful three-month-old baby girl named Irene. Irene was scheduled for a surgery to correct a rectal birth defect. In America this defect would have been corrected within 24 hours of birth, but in Ghana the surgery is less common and children with the defect grow up with a variety of complications that often lead to their being ostracized by their peers and families.
Lily assisted in Irene’s procedure and says, "I knew that by us coming and doing her surgery, she was getting a chance at having a normal childhood." Although in the U.S. this would have been a relatively low-key surgery, Lily knows that her efforts resulted in a truly life-changing experience for the child, allowing her to function as a healthy individual and to have a life full of greater options.
Shortly after the trip ended and she returned to her duties at Swedish Medical Center, a massive magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck in Haiti. Overwhelmed by the devastation that was being reported and having been recently familiarized with healthcare in a less fortune country, Lily knew what she needed to do. She found another mission trip (also attended by fellow UW Bothell classmate Cheryl Kimball), this time organized through the Global Health Institute at Loma Linda University, and flew to Haiti to work in a hospital in Port au Prince.
While in Haiti Lily was amazed by the destruction she saw, but almost more so by the lack of aid available. It was worse than she had previously encountered or could have imagined. Prior to the earthquake, few had access to healthcare and once the hospitals were opened, citizens came in droves seeking medical care for minor and serious treatments. The lack of supplies was astonishing to Lily and she witnessed death on a recurring basis, occurrences that weighed heavy on her heart.
Despite it all, she retained a remarkable sense of spirit and purpose, finding joy in the strength of her patients, the beauty in their relationships with their families and in the ever hopeful children and elderly who kept her smiling. After two weeks of working around the clock in labor and delivery and the ER, Lily returned to Seattle exhausted and forever changed by the trip. Never again will she underestimate the luxury of quality healthcare, the spirit of those who survive despite the odds, and her personal power to make an impact on those in need.
Upon her return, she presented to a group of UW Bothell Master of Nursing students about her travels. She encouraged them to recognize the potential in the power of nursing and the importance of volunteerism.
For more information about the UW Bothell Nursing Program, visit their website: www.bothell.washington.edu/nursing.