Being bilingual opens new nursing opportunities and worlds for Morocco RPCV Sue Rempel
Being bilingual opens new opportunities and worlds for local nurse
By: Ann Wilke March 21, 2005
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In her 16th summer, Sue Rempel, RN, BSN, went to Mexico to live with a family for the summer. There, the New Mexico native immersed herself in the language and life of her hosts.
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Later, first as a nursing student at the University of New Mexico and then as a practicing nurse, she put her Spanish-speaking skills to work.
"After nursing school, I worked in intensive care units in Albuquerque where we had many Spanish-speaking patients from southwest Albuquerque, so I used Spanish on a daily basis," Rempel said.
It wasn't long before she found her way into community health, working often in the barrio, honing her Spanish, her nursing skills and what has become a lifelong commitment to service.
For 10 years, up until one year ago, Rempel worked at Cabot Westside Health Center, 1810 Summit in Kansas City, Mo., a bilingual community health center for the uninsured, the under-insured and the Westside community.
"I did both administration and nursing there...I loved Cabot and I loved that work," she said.
At Cabot, her bilingual skills were employed daily.
A year ago, heeding a "very clear voice telling me it was time to change," the single mother of two teenage boys left her beloved Cabot to embark upon an accelerated master's degree program through Central Michigan University here in Kansas City.
"I couldn't do a full-time job and my master's work and be a mom to my two sons...but I needed some income. I thought I could consult and teach on a contract basis. I had done teaching as a volunteer," she said.
It wasn't long before she received a phone call from Turning Point, a 3-year-old organization dedicated to offering support and education to people with serious or chronic illnesses and to their families.
"One of the co-directors called me. I had done some volunteer work there, and I love the whole organization. She said they had received some grants for teaching classes about living with diabetes and heart disease, and the grant stipulated that the classes be bilingual, Spanish/English. She said, 'Can you teach those classes?' It was a perfect fit," Rempel said.
"She is a blessing to us," said Cathy Pendleton, Turning Point's director of adult programs. "She has taken such initiative in putting together this program and working on it."
Rempel taught a six-week Turning Point class in January and February on "Living with Hypertension," and next month she will teach a six-week session for newly diagnosed and ongoing diabetics. Most of the classes she teaches are held not at the Turning Point site (8900 State Line Road) but at the Kansas City Free Health Clinic, 3515 Broadway in Kansas City, Mo.
"We love to partner with other organizations, we love to take our programs out to the community," Pendleton said.
Rempel taught the diabetes class last year.
"What I realized in that previous class was how amazing and responsive to diet and exercise changes those folks were. Some patients from that first class are now walking together. I enjoyed them so much; they were inspirational," Rempel said.
She is herself also something of an inspiration, a natural caregiver and teacher who spent time in the Peace Corps in Morocco right after college. Her long-term goal - after her boys are on their own - is to do mission work.
"My uncle was a missionary in Japan, and our family went over one summer and worked on a pig farm. My dad was a minister, and we did mission trips as a family. I have been researching programs. I think I'd like to do something with AIDS or family planning...There are so many opportunities, I'm just gathering information now," she said.
Africa is a possibility, and so is South America. She's been to Venezuela with the volunteer dentists and dental students from the University of Missouri-Kansas City as a translator and a triage nurse. When the time comes, she will listen and likely make the same kind of faith leap she did a year ago when she left full-time employment for study and contract work.
"I will offer a prayer and ask God where he wants me. That is how I made the change, leaving Cabot...I don't know where I am going next, but I know I will have to go. I have learned if you listen, it comes to you - loud and clear," Rempel said.
For information on the upcoming bilingual diabetes class, contact Susan Bellis at the Kansas City Free Health Clinic, (816) 777-2747. For information on Turning Point educational programming and support, call (913) 383-8700.
©Kansas City Nursing News 2005
