“It wasn’t until we went to a village with a whooping cough outbreak that I realised our impact. If we went to a village and there’s no whooping cough — that’s the difference we’re making with immunisations.” — Ally Falk, 24
From her first solo flight to balancing on the side of a dinghy, Ally’s time in Papua New Guinea was an adventure. As an Australian ER nurse, she used her skills to serve with the primary healthcare teams in the villages across Oro Province. The teams worked in tandem with local healthcare authorities to address needs in the remote villages. “I did a bit of triage, a little see and treat, a little wound dressings, but immunisations…were my comfort zone, I really enjoyed making a difference,” she said.
Ally loved her first outreach in Oro so much that she decided to return in 2018, where she collaborated with local health workers to combat outbreaks of whooping cough, malaria, and yaws.
She urges her fellow nurses to come onboard, whether they’re just out of nursing school or seasoned veterans. “It gives you such a great perspective on what’s important in life. When you go back home to medicine, it is just this whole new outlook.”
Applications are now open for nurses aboard the YWAM Medical Ship in 2019. For more information, visit www.ywamtownsville-org.staging.precedence.com.au/volunteer/
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