Emily Dunham finds comfort and completion in a workplace without parallel — the operating room.

Being a part of a surgical team, the young nurse says, brings out the best of her skills.

Recently, the Auburn woman pitched into an international relief effort, aboard a floating hospital docked half a world away.

Feeling the itch to see and meet new people, to experience fresh places and things, Dunham decided to do what she had always wanted to do – volunteer overseas. So, she saved her money, left her Seattle apartment and her job at Harborview Medical Center, where she had worked for three years in the OR, for a change of scenery and adventure.

“I love culture and travel,” said Dunham, 25, a graduate of Auburn Mountainview High School and the University of Washington School of Nursing. “I wanted to take my skills where they were needed. … I wanted to help people overseas some day, those who don’t have access to care.”

On her own dime and time, Dunham worked with an all-volunteer, international team assigned to the good ship, Africa Mercy, one of the world’s largest private hospital vessels. The ship, which sat in port off Madagascar, a large, rugged island nation off Africa’s southeast coast, accommodated a staff of 400 volunteers from more than 40 nations.

Ever since 1978, Mercy Ships, a global charity, has operated a fleet of hospital ships in developing nations. The effort infuses hope and heals the poor, mobilizing people and resources worldwide, one nation at a time.

For nine weeks, Dunham handed scalpels and retractors, clamps and forceps, to doctors from other nations. English was the working language, interpreters the vital voice between doctors and patients.

Many of the surgeries were life-changing operations such as cleft lip and palate repair, cataract removal, orthopaedic procedures, plastics surgery, maxillofacial reconstruction, and obstetric fistula repair.

The work was steady, rewarding.

“We worked hard and put in a lot of hours, but it’s work I enjoy,” Dunham said. “It was amazing how well we were able to work together because everyone does everything a little bit different at home, but everyone was giving something to be there … great teamwork.”

A new perspective

The experience gave Dunham a deeper appreciation for and an understanding of what many Americans have, and what other struggling nations do not – fundamental health care and education.

Dunham saw how diseased and afflicted Malagasy are shunned and deserted, and how a basic, cosmetic surgery can change a person’s disposition and impact their outlook on life. She and her patients shared the unforgettable healing process and stories.

“Being there, I realized how these people are exactly the same as me, same as my family, my loved ones, and yet they are living with this disease that can cause them to become a social outcast, or they can’t function,” Dunham said. “It was really eye opening to see how much it affects their lives. It just made me realize I want to keep doing this. I want to keep helping people because, in my mind, that could so easily be me, born in a country where I didn’t have access (to health care).

“It was amazing to be a part of something and give people a normal life.” Dunham said. “I have huge respect for them, how they became normal people again. They were inspiring.

“I discovered a love for people I didn’t know I was capable of,” she added. “It was incredible to be walking alongside and interacting with these people. They are the most wonderful, grateful and strongest people I’ve met.”

A surgical nurse needs certain qualities to excel, and Dunham has them.

“Nurses are either drawn to the OR or they’re not,” she said. “I just found my home in the OR, and I love it. I love working right along the surgeons. I like that you get to see so much. I like the responsibility that comes with it. You really are the eyes and ears of your patient because they are under anesthesia, and they can’t talk or speak up for themselves. You really have to have that trusting relationship with your OR nurse.”

Given the chance, Dunham would return for another volunteer mission or travel nurse assignment.

For now, she is back home, looking for work and a chance to help change people’s lives for the better.

“It was hard to leave,” she said of the overseas experience. “It’s like a family. You develop these relationships with those you work with.”

PHOTO BELOW:

Emily Dunham’s nine-week volunteer mission aboard Africa Mercy off the coast of Madagascar was an unforgettable experience. Dunham worked with an international team of physicians and specialists in the operating room.
COURTESY PHOTO, Mercy Ships/Ruben Plomp