In February I went to the Pediatrix Neo Conference in Orlando. I had attended this conference a couple of years before and found it to be quite educational and interesting--also really great food because it was really geared to doctors and they don't settle for mediocre food like us nurses do! Anyway, I really went to this conference in February because one of the speakers was a neonatologist that I had worked for at my very first nursing job out of college (yes, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth!). Anyway, I was headed to Orlando to a conference I really couldn't afford given my already overextended credit card bill filled with trips to Rwanda.......I was going to see Dr. William Keenan speak--or so I thought!
I DID see Dr. Keenan, but Someone (I believe this, you think what you want) had sent me there so I could talk to him about Rwanda. I'm sure of this in my heart, laugh or roll your eyes if you must, but I believe! Anyway, I reintroduced myself to Dr. Keenan and told him about what I was up to in Rwanda. Coincidentally (or not), he just happens to be one of the authors of the Helping Babies Breathe program (HBB)! When he heard about my trips to Rwanda he told me I should check out the program. I said that actually I had just applied to the master trainer program that was going on in D.C. in June, and was just waiting to hear if I had been accepted or not. He wished me well and we parted ways.
The next week I received my acceptance to the program. This possibly was a coincidence--I don't see rainbows and butterflies in everything......but still, made me go "hmmmmm." So in June I was off to the HBB training program in D.C. Armed with my Neo Natalie kit (a basic simulator kit for teaching the program) and the flip chart training package, I found myself in my nation's capitol. The training was very intriguing. This program, I realized based on the homework I had been doing for the past three years in Rwanda, was sheer genius! Check out their website at http://www.helpingbabiesbreathe.org/. It's amazingly simple, but profoundly vital to the survival of infants in the developing world. I was terribly excited because I knew I had found my missing piece. I couldn't wait to tell Michael!
The program lasted two days, and I met some great people and made some new friends--bonus! Over the past three years I have come to expect weirdness in my life where Rwanda is concerned. By that I mean I have these "Twilight Zone" moments about Rwanda ALL THE TIME. It used to scare me a little--well, at least I thought it was creepy. Anyway, I had one of those moments at this training program. I was waiting for the registration for the program to start and a woman came up to me and asked if I knew where the registration was. My radar started dinging and I looked her over a bit as I talked to her. I told her I was taking the training as well and that registration wasn't opening for about an hour. She finally looked at me and said, "You look familiar." Here it comes.......insert Twilight Zone music.......She asked where I was from. I told her Kansas City and she shook her head. She was from St. Louis. More music. I used to live in St. Louis (in my previous Mrs. life--my hometown and current Mrs. life is in Kansas City). She asked where I worked in St. Louis. I was having a hard time concentrating at this point--the Twilight Zone music was blaring now. I told her I had worked in the NICU at Cardinal Glennon, but that it was a really long time ago. DING! She worked there, too......a long time ago. She asked my name, I told her and then corrected it to my former Mrs. name. Ding, ding, ding--we had a winner. We worked together in the same unit at the same time and we finally remembered each other from those other lives. She then asked what I was doing now and why I was taking this training class. No surprises now.....after all, Someone was whispering (NO, I am not psycho--this is just a figure of speech, you skeptics!) in my ear that this was who I really came to meet.....again.
Sue, it turns out, is also working in Rwanda and has lived there for two years. She and her husband are there with their church doing mission work. She is a nurse practitioner and works in a clinic assisting with deliveries and neonatal care. We went to have dinner together before our class started. Coincidence......only for the die hard non-believers that there is Someone out there who, maybe not directs our lives, but at least makes strong suggestions sometimes. I'm throwing in a couple of pictures from our class for your viewing pleasure:
I was formulating an idea and I couldn't wait to get home and discuss this with Michael.
No comments:
Post a Comment