Local nurse leaving it all behind to do good deeds in Nepal
Karin Feltman has worked at Lawrence Memorial Hospital for more than 20 years. She is a nurse who has a passion for helping others. It’s a passion that has taken her all over the world to help others in need. Her missionary work began after she saw the some of the haunting stories of Hurricane Katrina. ”There was a man on the roof and he was hanging onto to his wife for eight hours and she washed away from him and I thought I could do something about that. Then I went back to eating my cereal,” laughed Feltman. “Then I thought…then do something about it.”
So Feltman headed down to help out and give medical attention to the victims of hurricane Katrina. She then began doing mission work in other countries including Kenya and Haiti, Honduras. It was how she spent much of her spare time. “Every time I was coming back from a trip, I was planning on the plane how I was going to do my next mission,” says Feltman.
So she made a decision to make missionary work her life’s work. She will eventually pack up her things, quit her job in Lawrence and move to Nepal. Feltman will work at a hospital in the mountainous region of Nepal. She says the village has about 2000 people in it but the hospital itself serves over a million people. She says the facilities are minimal at best. They can’t feed their patients, food must be provided by their families. They have to re-use surgical gloves. Blow dryers hang from the ceiling and are used as baby warmers. “They have a TB (Tuberculosis) patient next to a leprosy patient next to another TB patient next to someone with a broken leg or broken arm,” says Feltman.
For Feltman, the move won’t be an easy one. Since she won’t be paid, she must raise a substantial amount of money just so she can live there. She will need about $3000 to $4000 a month for living expenses and health insurance. Her goal is to be in Nepal by 2013. To help with the tirp, email Feltman here.