Up every day at about 4:30 a.m., the volunteers left the massive 10-story-tall hospital ship - so large it could not dock at most ports - and went ashore to treat people. In a typical day, in which 3,000 to 5,000 people lined up at each clinic site, volunteers would not return to the ship until 8 or 9 p.m. "We saw patients until we ran out of time, energy and medication," Goebel said. In one town in Guatemala, crowds waiting for medical care parted to allow the buses to come through and then broke into applause, she recalled. "I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, I'm hoping we can live up to their expectations,'" she said. "They were just so grateful to have the resources and expertise." The international demand for quality medical care is evident, Goebel said. "There's so much need out there," she said. "From the humanitarian perspective, it's such a good show of what America has to offer. É We have so much to be grateful for.
Honduras RPCV Peggy Goebel volunteers with Project HOPE
Dominican professor back from medical mission
Jennifer Upshaw
Article Launched: 08/19/2007 11:20:57 PM PDT
Dominican University nursing professor Peggy Goebel treated 55,000 patients this summer.
The 57-year-old Sebastopol resident didn't do it alone. As a volunteer with Project HOPE, Goebel spent nearly a month this summer aboard the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort bringing medical care to people in Belize, Guatemala and Panama.
"I'm an old Peace Corps volunteer," said Goebel, who also teaches nursing at Santa Rosa Junior College. "I've always had the urge to be part of the solution, not the problem. This was fabulous, when I found project HOPE. The volunteers are extraordinary."
Nearly 50 years old, Millwood, Va.-based Project HOPE, or Health Opportunities for People Everywhere, educates health professionals and volunteers, provides medicine and supplies, enhances health facilities, trains community health workers and battles communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and AIDS.
"These are all volunteers that donate their time and it's just really great," Project HOPE spokeswoman Marisol Euceda said. "We had a huge list of people after the (2004 southeast Asia) tsunami happened and we sent out a call to come volunteer. We had about 4,000 applications. People are really moved to help. It just shows the human spirit - the American spirit of volunteering and helping out."
This summer, all branches of the military worked under a single command as part of a presidential order to conduct a humanitarian mission in Latin America. The volunteer medical staff has treated more than 120,000 so far, Goebel said.
Up every day at about 4:30 a.m., the volunteers left the massive 10-story-tall hospital ship - so large it could not dock at most ports - and went ashore to treat people. In a typical day, in which 3,000 to 5,000 people lined up at each clinic site, volunteers would not return to the ship until 8 or 9 p.m.
"We saw patients until we ran out of time, energy and medication," Goebel said.
In one town in Guatemala, crowds waiting for medical care parted to allow the buses to come through and then broke into applause, she recalled.
"I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, I'm hoping we can live up to their expectations,'" she said. "They were just so grateful to have the resources and expertise."
The international demand for quality medical care is evident, Goebel said. "There's so much need out there," she said. "From the humanitarian perspective, it's such a good show of what America has to offer. É We have so much to be grateful for.
