Medical missions of mercy

Framed photographs line the front wall of Sarah Walker’s Coeur d’Alene home.

On clear days, sunlight streams through her front window, splashing onto the hardwood floor and spilling into her living room.

The registered nurse smiled as she pointed to pictures of former patients she cared for during her time in Africa, calling them by name and describing her experiences with them in vivid detail. Some were injured during childbirth. Others fell victim to cancer. Whatever the case was, this North Idaho College graduate looked back on her patients with fondness and admiration.

Walker pointed to a map of the world as she described her medical adventures abroad, to places like Iraq, Sierra Leone, and Niger. Her finger darted from one country to the next as she described the people she met and the places she’d worked.

But her desire to work as a nurse in third-world countries was not something she planned to do earlier on in life.

Born in Oakland, California, Walker moved to Vaughn, Washington, a small town surrounded by dense forest near the Puget Sound. She enjoyed her childhood, and eventually went on to Western Washington University with an undetermined major. Nursing, according to Walker, was not yet on her radar.

Between semesters at Western Washington, Walker attended a missionary training program in the Philippines.

“We went around and prayed for kids with tuberculosis,” Walker said. “When we were there, nobody in our group was medical. These people lived on a garbage dump so we would go in and pray for these kids who were coughing all over us.”

After returning from the Philippines, Walker worked as a seasonal staff member at Camp Lutherhaven near Mica Bay on Lake Coeur d’Alene. She remembers the day she realized what she wanted to do as a career.

“I was just praying about what I needed to do. I wanted to go back overseas, but I wanted to take a skill,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll be a nurse!’”

With her new goal in mind, Walker earned her nursing degree at North Idaho College in 2002. She then worked at Deaconess Hospital in Spokane to gain valuable medical experience that she could take abroad.

During her time in the Philippines, Walker learned about an organization called Mercy Ships that operated off the coast of Western Africa. Their services provide free health care to those who have little to no access to medical resources within their area.

Walker sailed to Liberia on a Mercy Ship, complete with six operating rooms, 43 beds, and a fully-operational Starbucks. A hospital on water. She spent six months in Liberia caring for women who sustained injuries during childbirth.

“I just fell in love with them,” Walker said. “[They were] super ostracized, kicked out of their communities, their husbands left them.”

The Coeur d’Alene resident connected with the patients she cared for on a personal level.

“These women would come on for surgery, and we’d give them new clothes and have a big ceremony to send them home.”

After returning from her first trip, Walker felt called to return to Africa regularly. She spent time in Togo, Niger, and Ghana. When hearing of the Ebola outbreak, Walker traveled to a treatment center in Kakata, Liberia. She described the precautions staff members took to prevent contracting the deadly disease.

“You’re wearing like three pairs of gloves and each one is duct taped. One person helps you get dressed and then two people help get you undressed because they spray you with bleach after every article of clothing you take off.”

Prior to entering the patient care area, staff members wrote Walker’s name and the time on her arms. Individuals were only allowed to stay inside the building for 30 minutes as a safety precaution. Every time she left the care areas, she stepped into bleach to prevent the spread of ebola.

To this day, Walker is reminded of her time in Kakata.

“Even this winter, I went skiing,” she said.

Every once in a while, she would get a whiff of the plastic piece in her goggles.

“And it would take me back [to Africa].”

When asked if she ever felt scared for her wellbeing abroad, Walker described the time she broke her pelvis by falling down a set of stairs in Sierra Leone. “I remember laying in the hallway getting my X-rays done thinking this is where I die. Luckily the Mercy Ship was in the country.”

While continuing to work at Kootenai Health as an RN with her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing, Walker made an effort to stay in the United States during the unrest in the Middle East last year.

“I told God I’m not going to Iraq. I’m not going to the Middle East. Then Iraq happened, and I’m like I guess I’m going to Iraq.”

Working with Samaritan’s Purse, Walker spent three weeks at a trauma location 10 miles outside of Mosul. She treated land mine injuries and sniper wounds as bombs exploded outside the thick, towering concrete walls.

Walker returned from Iraq with a sense of closure.

“After Iraq, I felt done. That was a rough trip for me.”

Her time abroad helped to shape her outlook on life, she said.

“We’re all in the same world. And you know, Africa’s not that far away anymore. It’s a day trip to get there, and then you’re bleaching your vegetables and taking malaria medicine. It makes it challenging to be over there for three years and see people who have to walk five hours for water.”

After returning from Iraq, Walker said she’s now putting down roots in Coeur d’Alene. She said working abroad has influenced her to be a foster parent, and she believes caring for a baby will help to alleviate her “itch” for traveling.

“I took care of so many kids [in Iraq], so I realized there were kids in my community that needed help. So all of those different things have brought me to where I am now in a lot of ways.

This is my next adventure.”