School nurse's volunteerism helps to restore smiles, lives

American babies born with a cleft lip typically have surgery within three months of birth, says Miriam Lynn, president of the school nurses unit for the Nyack (N.Y.) Teachers Association. But on a recent volunteer trip to Honduras, where Lynn was a recovery nurse helping with plastic surgeries, there are children who have waited years to be treated for cleft conditions.

In her job as school nurse in the Rockland County district, Lynn is used to caring for many students every day. During a week in Honduras, Lynn cared for 57 patients who had surgical procedures. She was among a team of 19 plastic surgeons and nurses from the Westchester, N.Y., area volunteering with Healing the Children Northeast.

The medical team repaired holes in the palates and abnormal openings in the middle of the upper lip. Burn victims also were treated, most of them damaged from candles used for lights and cooking over fires. Some people walked seven hours to the hospital in San Pedro Sula for the surgery, many of them coming from the mountainous area surrounding the city. About 40 children had to be turned away before the week ran out.

On this recent journey, Lynn brought along toys and supplies provided by the Nyack Middle School PTA, including peroxide, cotton balls and Tylenol. She also brought dolls, jewelry and bubble soap (good therapy for patients recovering from mouth surgery) and 28 soccer balls, which members of her son’s middle school football team sat on to deflate so she could get them aboard the plane.

Volunteers raise money for the trip, including their flight, hotel, the hospital cost of surgery for one child and supplies. Lynn used personal days and holiday time to make the trip, and her fellow teachers donated money.

“We bring all our own supplies,” says Lynn. When it’s time to go, the volunteers empty their bags. “We leave everything: our socks, everything,” she says. “They have nothing.”

While she was gone, a map was posted in her office with the headline “Where is Mrs. Lynn?” so students could brush up on geography. Lynn’s experience working in the surgical Intensive Care Unit at Nyack Hospital prepared her for the trip. She also works occasionally as a private-duty surgical nurse to supplement her school nurse salary.

Although Lynn’s crew went back to Honduras in March, she stayed home.

“I’m the only nurse for 700 kids,” she says. She will return in November, when another trip is scheduled and she can use holiday time.

For more information on Healing the Children Northeast, check out www.htcne.org .

Adapted from an article by Liza Frenette that appeared in the Feb. 15, 2007, issue of New York Teacher.