Larissa Penner: seriously enthusiastic about serving forgotten people. An RN from Nova Scotia and to the left in this photo, I met Larissa at the 2018 Glendale CA Professional Certificate Course in International Nursing & Public Health. Weeks later, she was on location in Jérémie, Haiti, to begin a two-year service stent. Larissa is socially graceful, constantly smiling, and herein shares her experiences…
“We’ve had several other babies this month with severe respiratory distress. A 2-year old had a respiratory rate of 100, and there were more kids with O2 sats of 60%. I love how quickly kids get better; their O2 sats quickly jump to the 90s with a few litres of O2, though our O2 machine only goes up to 5 litres.
“Had a lady come in that had had a baby the day previous and had ‘something hanging out.’ It was a rotten piece of placenta. Gave her some oxytocin and her placenta delivered! No bleeding, and her uterus was nice and hard. Covered her with antibiotics, too.
“Pulled out of church for an emergency, a pregnant lady whose husband had stood on her, beaten her, and then left. She was 16 weeks pregnant, complaining of bleeding and abdominal pain and moaning, and unable to ambulate. Everything on assessment was fine except a massive urinary tract infection. We gave an antibiotic, recommended an ultrasound, and sent her home with a safe family. As they were leaving, we heard them say, ‘Nurses are after God. She couldn’t even walk before we came.’”
Larissa Penner: skilled, after God, and another INMED Graduate who continues seriously enthusiastic about serving forgotten people.