Congressional School Blog

A Nurse Without Borders

Written in Collaboration with Leah Boemerman, School Nurse


Leadership can come in many shapes and forms. For Congressional School Nurse, Leah Boemerman, it came as a trip to Africa where she put her nursing skills to work in aid of the residents of Eburru, a remote impoverished village in Kenya. Situated near the Great Rift Valley, several hours outside of the Keynan capital of Nairobi, Eburru is located in the countryside near the Ol Doinyo Eburru volcano.

 

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After a fifteen hour flight into Nairobi, Leah and her colleagues traveled for hours by vehicle along rocky dirt roads to reach the village. The trip was a mission organized by Mclean Bible Church in support of David’s Hope International and Camp Brethren Ministries in Kenya, a partnership focused on building long-term, sustainable solutions addressing the educational, medical, and spiritual needs of communities in Kenya.
 
Leah was one of several healthcare workers partnering with local doctors and dentists to provide free medical care to village residents. After a grueling trek to reach the village, the team wasted no time getting to work. “We worked long hours,” says Leah. “We put in 10-hour days during our visit. We saw many residents in the village, helping them with things like back pain, blood pressure, and dental issues. Most of the doctors we worked with spoke English, but many other people we came in contact with spoke Swahili and we had to communicate through translators. One of the main differences that stood out to me during this trip was the lack of technology. In Eburru, they have to do everything manually.”
 
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This is Leah’s first year at Congressional School. She previously worked as a preschool teacher, and after receiving her LPN qualification, she took a job as a pediatric nurse. As for her role as Congressional’s School Nurse? “I always wanted to get back into education,” she says. “Working as a school nurse gives me the best of both worlds.”
 

 


 

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Leah Boemerman

School Nurse

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