I am a public health nurse in Delaware and have worked in Maternal Child Health Community Services for the past 15 years.  In the summer of 2005 I was accepted into the CDC STOP Polio program and was sent to Ethiopia to work on the efforts to eradicate this disease.  It was an amazing, wonderful and difficult experience and one that forever changed my life.  It opened my eyes to the wonderful resources we have here in the United States and that we have so much to be grateful for.  I will never again take for granted clean water and air, available and safe food, access to vaccines, antibiotics, and good medical care.  When I returned to Delaware with that refreshed sense of gratefulness and knowledge, I accepted a position working in an inner city Family Planning/GYN Public Health Clinic.

I encourage any nurse with a passion for Maternal and Child Health and global health to look into working for a period of time in a country of need.  CDC sends small teams of doctors, nurses, and IT people to the countries still working to eradicate polio.  The CDC Web site for the STOP Polio program explains the assignments and the application process.  There are numerous other organizations with varied lengths of assignments, and there is no end to all medical needs in many countries around the world. I was honored to have helped in that effort in Ethiopia and came back to public health nursing in Delaware with a refreshed sense of priorities and understanding of all people. 

For more information, contact me at (302)995-8590 or peg.matsen@state.de.us.