INUVIK - Three nurses from Inuvik have taken their professional skills to a new clinic in rural Kenya, where they hope to leave more than medical supplies behind.

Inuvik nurses Leah Bishop, Andrea Cardinal and Meegan Nicholson are in Oyugis, Kenya this week to volunteer in a clinic. With the support of Inuvik, they brought supplies and their skills to help the people there. - Samantha Stokell/NNSL photo

Acute care nurses Meegan Nicholson and Leah Bishop and emergency care nurse Andrea Cardinal arrived in Oyugis, Kenya, on May 9 where they will volunteer for two weeks at a clinic run by volunteer organization Project Helping Hands. They've taken time off from their jobs at Inuvik Regional Hospital to travel halfway around the world to hold daily clinics and promote health education in the rural community in western Kenya.

"The biggest thing for me is to make the trip sustainable," said Cardinal. "I really want to focus on teaching. A box of Tylenol will only last so long, but if you can teach them how to prevent pain, that will last."

In an interview before their trip, the three didn't know what to expect in terms of the clinic, the patients or the country. Bishop had travelled to Tanzania for a nurses conference and Cardinal had completed a similar trip to Bolivia with the same organization, so they were piecing together advice for each other and Nicholson, who hasn't done a trip like this before.

"People have this vision of Africa, but it's like everywhere else," Bishop said. "The people are living in poverty, but the thing for me that stood out was how pumped everyone was about life."

Once the three arrive in Nairobi, they will have to take an eight-hour truck drive to Oyugis and once settled there, hike 10 kilometres each day to the clinic where they will work. They are part of the first team to work in this clinic, which was still being built before they arrived.

The nurses expect the work will be like a family doctor's office, with people coming in and describing illnesses or pain which they will then treat. They anticipate patients primarily with symptoms of malnutrition and related issues, as well as infections and parasites. They could also encounter people with AIDS, broken bones, pre- and post-natal concerns and mental issues.

"It will be like anywhere where there are no doctors: patients with a lot of different complaints," Bishop said. "Inuvik has given us so much crazy knowledge. Because we work here, we have so much experience."

She explained that as acute and emergency care nurses at the Inuvik Hospital, they get experience treating patients with a wide range of illnesses that nurses in larger southern hospitals don't get because they work in specific wards, like thoracic or cardio. In Inuvik they gain skills in pediatrics, labour and delivery, mental health, surgical and first aid treatment that will prepare them for this trip.

In addition to their own considerable skills, they will bring $1,500 worth of donated medical supplies, such as Tylenol, Aspirin, gauze and toothbrushes. Whatever they don't use will remain at the clinic for future volunteers.

Without the help of the people of Inuvik, the three wouldn't even have been able to go on the trip. They needed to fundraise $3,300 each for the organization and then an additional $2,200 for flights. Through dinners, large personal donations and raffles they managed to raise the money.

"That's the beauty of the North," Cardinal said. "The people that live here know about work adventures. We came to Inuvik for an adventure and now it's normal so we're going somewhere else for an adventure."

The nurses will work at the clinic for nine days, then go on a safari organized through the organization before returning to Canada at the end of May.

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