Mission to Gambia:
Peace Corps Volunteer Kellie Seelig ’04

Partners with MCCN to Assist Nursing Education in Africa

How one alumna created a link between her alma mater and a tiny nursing education program in rural Gambia—a link that yielded benefits to all involved and personified the bond of care and compassion between nurses, regardless of vast distance, huge differences in culture, and widely dissimilar conditions of practice.

When Kellie Seelig ’04 requested a Peace Corps commitment in Africa, she did so for one reason, “I felt that Africa had the greatest need for nurses.” Assigned to The Gambia, one of Africa’s smallest countries located on the West African coast, Seelig quickly discovered that the need was all too real.

“My assignment was to teach in a nursing school for community health nurses. There were just four other teachers who came and went. In fact, for over a month, I was alone in charge of two classes of 40 students each, who were at different levels of the program,” Seelig remembers.

Pretty heavy responsibility for a new nursing grad with just over a year of professional nursing experience working in the neuro unit at Mount Carmel West, this baptism of fire was tough, Seelig acknowledges. “I would spend all night writing out my notes for class. I know I learned way more than I taught and gained a lot of confidence.”

Fortunately, English is The Gambia’s official language, although Seelig also learned the village languages of Wolof and Madinka. To compound the challenge, community health nursing in rural villages in The Gambia is very different from anything Seelig had learned about or encountered before.

“Community nurses there take care of the health of villagers in about 20 villages, getting around on motorbikes. They deal with malaria—the number one killer of children under five—diarrhea and respiratory infections, as well as reproductive and prenatal care and delivery,” Seelig explains. There are just a couple of doctors for the entire country and limited access to hospital care, hospitals that don’t even have oxygen for patients.

Seelig also functioned as the clinical instructor, when once a week, the students walked 1.5 miles to the hospital, which provided care in pediatric, adult, maternity, and outpatient areas. “I was told that the way they did clinicals meant that the instructor was there for ten minutes and then the students were on their own. I stayed with them the whole time and introduced them to the concept of paperwork, remembering how I had been up all night preparing for clinicals as a student,” Seelig says.

Enlisting the Aid of her Alma Mater

The depth of the needs surrounding her prompted Seelig to contact Dawn Hughes, MS, RN, assistant professor and SNAM (Student Nurses Association Mount Carmel) advisor at the College. “I contacted Dawn because I knew that she would follow through and help,” says Seelig.

And help Hughes did, enlisting the support of the entire College through the efforts of SNAM. The collaboration began with a pen pal project matching students from MCCN with Gambian nursing students. “The Gambian students loved learning about healthcare in the U.S., despite their infrequent access to email and the very slow delivery of messages,” Seelig says. Several of the pen pals are still communicating.

SNAM established sister student nurses associations at three Gambian nursing schools, and undertook several fundraising efforts, raising over $1,600 to obtain basic necessities that Gambian nurses somehow do without: stethoscopes, penlights, scissors, BP cuffs, slides, etc. Gambian community health nurses are not supplied with BP cuffs, but routinely prescribe blood pressure medication, based solely on patients’ symptoms, without ever having taken a BP reading.

Faculty contributed teaching materials. Nursing texts were collected. Even beanie babies went into the box. Instructor Vickie Warschauer, MS, RN, helped in the fundraising, and Margaret Stinner, MS, RN, assistant professor, donated the proceeds of her annual “Books and Buckeyes Sale.” In fact, it was Stinner’s fundraiser and donations from the College, churches, and family members that helped to finance the trip to deliver the goods to Seelig.

Sarah Baker ’08 came up with the idea to personally transport the items collected to Seelig in The Gambia. Baker enlisted the assistance of long-time friend and MCCN student Angela Snider. The two shared one suitcase and then loaded three more with the precious donations.

“Going to Africa had always been a dream of mine, and missions are in my blood, being raised in a pastor’s family,” says Snider, now a senior at MCCN. “It was the trip of a lifetime, despite all the transportation challenges.”

A highlight for Snider was being left in charge of the local hospital for a few hours by the sole nurse (for the entire hospital!) who went to the mosque to pray. “The hospital had electricity and running water for just a few hours a day. Gloves are used only for what the Gambians consider very invasive procedures, which does not include childbirth. Unless provided by family members, hospital patients are not given food or any primary care, such as bathing or toileting assistance,” Snider recalls.

“The people there were so gracious and very grateful for what we brought,” adds Snider. Unfortunately, due to weight, the books collected had to be shipped separately.

Economic challenges meant that the non-profit group that had agreed to pay the freight had to decline. As of this writing, the boxes of much-needed books sit on a dock in Texas until the hundreds of dollars to pay the shipping fees can be raised. “Any donations toward the shipping would be greatly appreciated and can be sent to me at the College” says (Dawn) Hughes. “Gambian nursing students have just one textbook per class that the whole class shares and passes around. The need is critical.”

As for the Mount Carmel nurse who made the connection between nursing students on two faraway continents, Seelig plans to return to The Gambia for her class’ graduation.

“The experience had so many ups and downs. There were so many needs and only so much that a person can do. But two things happened that made me feel I might have made a difference,” concludes Seelig.

“When it came time for testing, the class ahead of mine couldn’t answer any of the questions. But the class that I was the only teacher for achieved a “B” average. And during clinicals, my class saw a child with undiagnosed polio. They observed the symptoms, caught it, and made sure the child was examined and treated. Those two things still make me smile.”

MCCN Reaching Out Locally and Around the World

Mexico Mission Trips

Once or twice a year, the College, in partnership with Mount Carmel Health, staffs a medical mission to a border town in Mexico with student, faculty and alumni volunteers. The College also raises funds to buy supplies, as well as collecting supplies, treats, and over-the-counter medicines for the volunteers to distribute.

Avondale and Dana Elementary School Tutors

Lunch hours weekly during the school year find volunteers from MCCN tutoring students in reading skills at two local elementary schools. Students, faculty, and staff serve as volunteer tutors.

Avondale Elementary Thanksgiving and Christmas Projects

MCCN students, faculty and staff annually play Santa to deserving students at nearby Avondale Elementary by purchasing gifts for every child in the school. The gifts are delivered by MCCN students before Christmas break. For many of these children, the gifts from this project may be the only Christmas presents they receive.

Campus Ministry raises funds to prepare Thanksgiving grocery baskets to be distributed to needy families in the Avondale Elementary community.

Operation Feed

MCCN joins annually with Mount Carmel Health in collecting food donations for the Mid-Ohio Food Bank.

We invite alumni who are interested in joining our outreach in any of these areas to contact Coordinator, Alumni Relations, Phylis Motz Crook to volunteer.