Four volunteer nurses with Northwest Medical
Teams departed earlier this week to train their Iraqi colleagues in critically
needed nursing procedures, including intensive care and burn care protocols.
The nurses will teach in Iraqi hospitals
where health care providers have had no training in medical developments
in more than a decade.
The nursing team includes Washington volunteers Ann Johnson and Debbie Diamond along with Don Scott of Boise, Idaho, and Erda Fuller of Alaska. They will join Oregon nurse Sandy Stone who has been working in Iraq since early September.
"The nurses in Iraq are eager to learn updated medical procedures to help their patients," says Bas Vanderzalm, president of Northwest Medical Teams. "These dedicated volunteers are providing a wonderful gift to the Iraqi medical community-one that will save lives and improve the health of thousands of families for years to come."
This is the third volunteer training team funded by a grant from the Washington (D.C.) Kurdish Institute, a nonprofit organization that works to help impoverished families in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The volunteer nurses, the eighth team of medical volunteers deployed by the organization to Iraq since April, will provide training in Dohuk and Erbil. Previous nursing teams also taught in Sulaymaniya. They return on Dec. 7. Northwest Medical Teams has provided nearly $4 million in humanitarian aid and volunteer medical services in Iraq during the last seven months.
To support the Iraq Relief Fund, call 1-800-959-4325, or mail gifts to Northwest Medical Teams, PO Box 10. Portland, OR 97207-0010. Or give online at our secure Web site: www.nwmedicalteams.org
Your gift of a $30 gift sends more than $1,500 of aid.