Volunteer Nurses Manage Long Days and Heat Caring for Patients

The Pacific Partnership 2011 medical team arrived at the Northern District Hospital in Luganville, Vanuatu,  greeted by the sun and a line of close to one hundred people. The line of people waiting at the medical site quickly swelled to nearly five hundred as the team set up tents to help keep those waiting in line cool and hydrated in the rising heat.

HOPE volunteer, Maureen Kisicki, a pediatric nurse, was in charge of triaging the patients through the lines and sending them through to the appropriate doctors and nurses.

“We were able to get people’s vitals and information down, and keep the patients flowing to ensure each one was seen by a medical professional,” she says.

Even as the temperatures continued to rise during the day and the number of patients to be seen continued to grow, Kisicki and her team kept the process running smoothly, and they managed to treat nearly 750 patients in one day.

“The highlight was everyone working together as a team, to ensure that everyone who came to the medical site was seen,” Kisicki says. “We all stayed late, it was very hot, but there was not one complaint. Everyone kept working and we got everything done.”