Dorcas is a 38 yr old nurse who has a dream of becoming a midwife.

Her father is a supervisor at the Tampico factory (makes & bottles juice) and also a pastor of a church. Her mother is a seamstress. She is the 5th child of 17. There were 4 children that died. She has 7 brothers and 5 sisters. All of her family still lives in the same area as where they were raised and remain close.

She went to nursing school and started working for RHFH in April 2015 in the CTC. She did well there and we moved her down to the dressing room when cholera patients slowed down.

Dorcas was married in Dec 2015 and has a girl that is 2 yrs old now. Her husband works as a teacher in a town about a 4 hour drive away. They tried to rent a house half way between the two places of work, but it was too hard for them once they had their daughter. Dorcas has since moved back in with her daughter to her parent’s house and prays for a time when her family can be united. Her parents own their house and it is a 6-room house made of block with a cement roof. It has a kitchen, shower, and flush toilet. There is piped water that comes into their yard. There are 13 people that live in the house. It is about a 30 minute motorcycle ride to the RHFH clinic.

Currently, Dorcas works in the dressing room and ICU. When the OB nurse isn’t able to work, she will cover her spot and consult pre- and post-natal patients. She is doing clinical work also to meet requirement for licensing. This means that for one month she might work in a OB hospital on the weekends to gain experience and hours. She also teaches a class to the 1st and 2nd year students in a nursing school on Mondays. She stays busy and loves to learn new things. She can often be seen reading textbooks during any down time that she has. She asks great questions and shows interest with every patient.

She likes her job because she likes to take care of people. She loves watching someone heal and get better. It makes her happy to see her patients happy. She strives to put herself at the same level as her patient to give the care that they need.

The one thing that she doesn’t like about work is standing a lot because her feet and legs get swollen and hurt. She tries to take precautions so this doesn’t happen, but it usually does and makes her tired.

There are a few things that we are usually low on and would help her give better care to the patients if we had more – antibiotic cream, NG tubes #8FR long, and gauze for wound care.

There are many patients with incredible stories and horrific wounds that she will always remember, but there is one that stands out. A patient owned a piece of land and found a goat tied up there on his land eating. The patient cut the cord that was holding the goat there and it went on it’s way. Well, the goat owner was not happy at all and came after him with a machete to cut his head off….and he almost did. When Dorcas received this emergency case, she went into action. Applying compression, she called for back-up. Dr. Briana, Lori, and Licia came and we all worked together to help save the man. He kept passing out from blood loss and low blood pressure. Dorcas placed the IV, monitored the BP, talked to the patient (drifting in and out of consciousness) and family, and got needed supplies. The wound to the back and side of his neck was incredibly long and deep, but several layers of suture helped to pull the tissue back together. He came for daily dressing changes until it was healed and the sutures were removed. He took iron pills and his hematocrit was watched closely. The man was able to move his neck and didn’t seem to have any lasting problems. The case went to court, but the other man ran away from the area and has never been back. Dorcas remembers this so well because everyone worked together so well and so quickly to save his life….and that she was scared his head would fall off.

On a typical day, Dorcas arrives at 6am and gets report from the night nurse. She goes to the ICU to check on the sickest children and see how they are doing. She gives kids medication, morning insulin injections for outpatients (4 ppl), and does vital signs for those in the ICU. Around 7am, patients start coming to the clinic. Though it is called the dressing room, there is more that goes on there besides wound care – foley catheter changes, injections, albuterol nebs, foreign body removal, administering oxygen, placing IVs for dehydrated patients, diabetic care, accidents and emergencies. There are patients with appointments that usually come between 7-12, but often other new emergencies come as well. She usually tries to take her lunch break from 12-1, but often finishes caring for her patients before she takes a break. After break, she might clean the room, organize supplies, restock materials, or sterilize instruments, all the while knowing that an emergency could come in. She is also doing vital signs and checking on the children in the ICU throughout the shift. She makes sure that the IVs and NGs in the ICU kids are working correctly and does dressing changes and injections for them also. Towards the end of the shift, the outpatient diabetics come in for a blood sugar check and their evening dose of insulin. She writes a schedule out for the nurse that is coming on shift and double checks on the ICU kids before her shift ends at 6pm. She has 4 shifts per week.

Her job at RHFH helps her to help her family, pay for transport, buy meds for her father, food for her child and others in the house. The work increases her knowledge and experience as a nurse. She is proud that she works at RHFH and is happy to help so many people. She sees that her work brings healing to many and she is satisfied with all she is able to do. She has taken the things that she has learned here to teach others. She wants the younger generation to be strong and smart. She thinks that many people would die without the RHFH clinic. The healthcare that they bring to the area is a blessing to many.

Dorcas attends the church where her father is pastor. She asks that you pray for her – good health (legs not to be swollen), she become a midwife, grow spiritually, and that she will finish her race well in the hands of God.