Moment for Mission March 1, 2009 by Ruth M. Barnard

I am a Deacon. I am an Elder. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. My earliest memories come from attending the Ladies Aid Society of our Presbyterian Church with my mother. The idea of helping others was embedded early in my mind. I continued that tradition with the idea of helping others do their best. Perhaps that is why I chose nursing from among my few options. I do think the reason I chose rehabilitation as my specialty was because of that early idea.

I have worked to help many in a variety of emergencies when people needed help just to live, but my heart was in helping people do their best—to learn to care for themselves and families. This effort was true as a nurse caring for ill patients, as a visiting nurse in the community, and as a professor working with students to develop their skills.

I benefited by talking with other church members to share their perceptions and see how they behaved to help other members, to help in church missions, and to help in the community. In the climates of the different Presbyterian churches, especially this one, I have grown in my discipleship, especially in Mission. There are dedicated, wonderful disciples in this congregation who have taught me much.

A few months after I retired from the University of Michigan faculty, First Presbyterian Senior Pastor Rev. Michael Lindvall told me that Haitians had asked the church for help to start a nursing school. Rev. Lindvall asked me to lead the effort to start this nursing school in Haiti. After prayer and thought, I told him that I would try.

God gave me the vision of what it could be and brought others to help with the project.

I worked with many people to further define the project; I felt the growth in my confidence and vision. These insights from God helped me work with others to accomplish the school.

I knew that the goal was to educate Haitians to become nurses who could improve the Haitian health system as well as to improve its nursing education.

FSIL, the first 4-year baccalaureate school of nursing in the Republic of Haiti, has just graduated its first class of 13 men and women with the second class of 19 to graduate in the Fall. There are more than 100 in the pipeline.

The program was set up to be an expression of nursing as a ministry of Jesus Christ, where the spiritual dimension is an integral component along with teaching and healing. These graduates are already making an impact on the health of Haitians.

Thank you for continuing to help our work in Haiti, especially the School of Nursing, and for helping me to grow as a disciple.