Denise Brennan and Elizabeth Little are registered nurses who have dedicated their lives to helping others. They are also sisters, from Riverside and New Iberia, La., respectively, who will reunite in Cambodia soon after Valentine’s Day to lend their hearts and a helping hand to people in dire need of health care.
As part of the Louisiana Volunteers and Mission, which is a subsidiary of the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission program, Brennan and Little will work at a primary care level assessing and treating numerous diseases and chronic conditions like typhoid, malaria, diabetes and hypertension in the Kampong Chhnang Province.
Many people in the rural area also suffer from cataracts, anemia, protein and iron deficiencies, upper respiratory/chest infections and heart problems.
“Our main purpose is to assess people’s health conditions and also teach them things like how to use medication,” Brennan said. “Many of these people have never seen a doctor or received conventional medical care.”
After arriving in the country’s capital, Phnom Penh, Brennan will take a 1.5-hour drive to the Kampong Chhnang Province to lend her expertise and experience gathered as a nurse over the last 12 years.
“This trip is really about helping the poor get treatment,” she said. “The medical volunteers will be addressing dental hygiene, fever management, diarrhea, malaria and many other issues. We’ll see people on the first level of medical care, and then we will refer them to the next level of medical treatment and more acute care settings.”
While the 18 Louisiana Volunteers and Mission volunteers will work in concert with the Cambodian government to coordinate services, myriad people coming in for a medical check up is probable.
“I’ve been told it’s not uncommon for 300 people to visit in one day,” Brennan said. “Word spreads like wildfire. In preparing for this trip, I’ve really thought how blessed we are in the United States that we don’t have these kinds of concerns.”
The Louisiana Volunteers and Mission team consists of a 12-person medical staff including a dentist, pedestrian, dietician and obstetrician/ gynecologist.
A crew of six construction volunteers also will work on water purification systems and building latrines.
Brennan, a Riverside resident for 30 years (with her husband, Keith; her children Abby, Conlin and Nora; and her grandson, Keith) will have immunizations for typhoid, polio and hepatitis along with malaria medication before she embarks on her two-week sabbatical from The British Home where she works as a wellness nurse.
“The British Home has been very positive about my trip,” Brennan said. “Everybody has really helped with getting out communication about how people can donate over-the-counter medications.”
While Brennan can’t transport any medications in liquid form, she is collecting medications like multivitamins, children’s vitamins, antacid tablets, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, Claritin, Benadryl, Monistat, hydrocortisone cream and antifungal creams to administer to the people in Kampong Chhnang.
Donations of over-the-counter medications are being accepted at the The Woodlands of The British Home in the office of Alice Franks, Woodlands manager.
“The response has been going really well,” said Brennan about the donations. “So many people want to help, but they don’t always know how to go about it. This is a great opportunity to help needy people by doing a little thing that will make [the program] a big success.”
On a personal level, Brennan is looking forward to seeing another culture in Southeast Asia while spending time with her sister and helping others who need medical attention.
“Going into a whole new culture and new country for me with somebody I am close to like my sister is a great opportunity,” Brennan said. “I think we will be able to bounce the experience off each other and come back to share it with our families, friends and co-workers. Experiencing something like this with someone you know obviously makes it more real.”