A Healthier Future for South Sudan's Families

Nora Hellman is an ER nurse from Montana—she’s been to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake to provide medical care with International Medical Corps. She’s been to the Philippines after the devastating 2013 tsunami. Most recently, she was in South Sudan, helping to care for the victims of a brutal civil war.

When she was in South Sudan, she worked with six student nurses from a school in the capital city that is supported by International Medical Corps. These student nurses had already been forced to flee the city of Juba and their nursing school, and circumstances put them in a camp filled with people who couldn’t go home because of the violence. Every day, they were treating gunshot wounds, machete wounds and malaria. According to Nora “Even when we couldn’t reach the clinic, they continued to treat patients, because that’s what their training with International Medical Corps taught them to do.”

The six young nurses she worked with faced the violence and fear of war every day—but they could not stand by while their countrymen suffered. They chose to do something to help; they chose to become nurses. Nora reflects, “I believe they are the hope of their country—they and all who refuse to give in to despair and instead work to make a difference.” Those nurses are still in South Sudan now, tending to the injured and training families about how to stay healthy.

In conclusion Nora reflects, “Was my work there more important for the lives I helped to save in our triage tents—or for the student nurses I trained who will continue our work in the years to come? All I know is that I’m proud of them—and I’m proud to be a part of International Medical Corps.” Thanks to the generous support of GlobalGiving and other donors International Medical Corps is able to put an emphasis on training – even in the midst of disaster – helping ensure that families and communities have the resources needed to stay healthy in the long-term.