Step Up Uganda Executive Director Kathy Darnell and two Durango nurses – Bethany Graf and Debra Price – returned a few days ago from Uganda. There, they provided health services to rural Ugandans. Darnell said there was a large turnout in villages outside the capital city of Kampala. The three women provided HIV/AIDS testing and counseling, child vaccinations, malaria vaccinations and treated miscellaneous wounds, infections and diseases.
Darnell, Graf and Price (who are graduates of Pueblo Community College) worked with nurses from Ntenjera clinic to create a sustainable program. Darnell said everyone involved learned a lot from each other.
The nurses also worked at Mengo Hospital, where Graf and Price delivered three babies in one day.
Darnell explained the meaning of “Mengo Hospital.” Historically, no matter what the circumstances were, men were always treated first. When the founder of the hospital was coming up with a name, he settled on Mengo as a way to indicated “men go” so that women were treated first. This was his effort to give women equal access to triage and health care.
