ICU Registered Nurse, Jessica Knight, has recently returned from a six-week volunteer effort in Kenya where she donated an incredible 63kg of stock collected from various departments (headed for the rubbish bin) across Gold Coast University Hospital.
During her visit Jess volunteered in two rural hospitals in Kenya and one tertiary hospital in the capital of Nairobi where the lack of basic supplies was alarming.
“Kenya does an amazing job at providing care with what they have, as they have a serious lack for basic supplies.
As an ICU nurse, Jess enjoyed seeing the similarities and differences between Africa and Australia and took the opportunity to share her knowledge and expertise with her international peers.
“Their model of care was very different to ours and I noticed a gap in their advanced life support training in the ICU.
"I took this as an opportunity to print and laminate some posters for their unit and helped to teach it while I was there,” she said.
This visit pushed Jess out of her comfort zone, and she had the opportunity to try her hand at some new skills, such as helping to deliver babies which was an amazing experience for the ICU nurse.
“The trip taught me so much about providing nursing care under different circumstances and made me super appreciative of what we have here in Australia,” she said.
“The people of Kenya are such kind and hospitable people. They have left me walking away with more than I ever could have given them.”
