Continuing Promise_FNL with art 12/22/10 7:03 PM Page 12
From top: RN volunteers Ella Gray, Melissa
Myers, Betty Woods, and Lisa Atwa in their
"helo" gear. They served in Nicaragua and
Panama; RNs Brooke Casipit, Mandi
Howard, Lauri Hoagland, and Tara Rynders
share a rare moment of rest on board; the
U.S.S. Iwo Jima, where RNRN volunteers
lived and worked
care, as RN Amanda Howard did, or conducting family planning
trainings, as Jane Ernstthal did.
"It's not a trip for the weak or weary," said Jennifer Perez, an RN
from Long Beach, Calif. "Ship life is rough! It was the hardest I have
ever done, and I thrive on excitement and challenges, both physically and mentally. My trip was the most amazing experience ever, and
I learned so much. I really do thank RNRN for giving me such a
rewarding experience."
Many of the RNs, who had never toured or experienced a military
hospital ship, were awestruck by the U.S.S. Iwo Jima. "I never realized the power in that ship until I was a part of Continuing Promise,"
said Cherie Thurner, an RN from Michigan. "It is the power of what
good can be done. 700 Marines. 3,000 people and eight full floors, a
helicopter pad to service six helicopters, two-ton trucks and tractors,
and room for a full hospital."
And Thurner, relatively speaking, is a veteran disaster relief
nurse. She deployed earlier this year with RNRN to Sacre Coeur
Hospital in Haiti, and has been on 13 medical mission trips to Haiti
over the last 13 years. She worked disaster relief following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and is already planning another
mission to Haiti in spring 2011.
Like other RNs who have served with Continuing Promise or on
other Haiti missions, Thurner shies away from any praise of her tire12
N AT I O N A L N U R S E
W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G
DECEMBER 2010
