Merry Christmas

While not exactly your traditional Christmas song, this is one of my favorites. Mostly I think because it reminds me that the reason we celebrate Christmas is because Jesus came to die for our sins. Not exactly the thing we think of first when we imagine that baby in the manager. His sacrifice is the reason I live! 

Christmas plans for me including working the night of the 24th and then heading to Wenatchee, WA on Christmas morning for a couple of days with my grandparents and family. Then I will head down to my family's home in Oregon for a couple of days. I am looking forward to some time relaxing and enjoying family and friends! Next year I will most likely be exchanging my white Christmas for a very green and tropical one with temperatures near the hospital around 80+ degrees and lots of rain this time of year.

The other big piece of news in my life is that on December 17th I passed my comprehensive exam for school, so I have officially graduated! Now I just have to take the certification exam in early January.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Help Needed

Explore Indonesia and Discover Serving at Bethesda Hospital from Calista Yates on Vimeo.

So the video above is a collection of pictures and videos that helps you explore and discover Indonesia, Bethesda Hospital, and being a missionary. Most of the pictures were taken during a 6 month period in 2006 when one of my main responsibilities was coordinating short-term workers who came to Bethesda Hospital. The song playing is "Here I Am" and was "borrowed" from the group downhere. They have some amazing music that you can find on iTunes or at your local Christian bookstore.

So you have seen the job description and as you you can imagine it feels a bit overwhelming and right now I will be the only American nurse there. And let's face it, I am single woman moving to a rather isolated and rural location. While there will be other missionaries serving there, they are all families and doctors. So I would love to have another single woman, preferably a nurse or nurse practitioner etc to go with me. In the past I have been there both with and without another single woman and I definitely preferred the partnership of another woman and nurse. On the good days we celebrated together and on the rough days we supported each other. We also had fun taking vacations together. This is not a lifetime commitment, even a couple of years would be a big help. Please contact me if this is something that interests you and we can talk.

What

We have talked a bit about who I am and when I will be going, so I thought it was time to tackle the question of what I will be doing. Here is the official job description: 

Job Summary:
Serve at Bethesda Hospital in the areas of midwifery and general nursing.  Part time teaching and mentoring Indonesian nurses and students formally and informally.

Responsibilities:
Care for patients in the obstetrics department.  Assist in births. Teach staff.  Improve quality control measures, establish training sessions.  Care for general ward patients. Assist in disbursal of donated medical supplies.  Teach several hours a week in the nursing school.  Mentor nurses and nursing students. Supervise practical experience of MedGo student nurses.

To me that sounds like more than a full-time job! As always though job descriptions tend to be a bit flexible and I am sure there are things not listed as well. From my past time serving at Bethesda I know there will be also be some administrative responsibilities, helping to provide medical care for the expat population of the area, and working with short-term workers.

The two areas I think I am most excited about are providing care to women as a certified nurse-midwife and working with the nursing and MedGo students. During previous times serving at Bethesda Hospital I came to face-to-face with the tragedy of maternal and neonatal mortality in the developing world. So many mothers and babies that could have been saved with simple prenatal care and skilled care during birth. You can click here to watch a video posted on my other blog for more information about the tragedy of maternal mortality. (While you are there take a few minutes to read my other post - it has pictures of me as a kid!) I have spent the last three years learning as much as I can about how to help prevent these tragedies. Now I have the opportunity to use that education and skills to help the women of Indonesia. I will also have the opportunity to teach and help others learn those same skills. Some of the young nursers will soon be serving throughout Indonesia and hopefully one day in the world beyond through the MedGo Program (more on that soon). 

So that is a whole lot of words but as they as say a picture is worth a 1000 words, so here is my job description in pictures.

Teaching practical skills to nursing students

Providing medical care for other missionaries living in the area including "catching" their babies

Teaching nursing students in the classroom

Mentoring and Discipling

Coordinating short-term workers

Working with patients in the hospital

And of course "catching" a few babies