HER TRIPS SOMETHING SPECIAL THIS NURSE SPENDS TIME OFF TRAVELING TO HELP OTHERS.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
With the sounds of people talking and eating, it usually gets pretty noisy Noisy is the name or part of the name of six communes of France:
But not at nurse Beverly Bent's recognition luncheon a few weeks ago. You could have heard a pin drop when hospital President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Jim Sherman handed her the microphone microphone, device for converting sound into electrical energy, used in radio broadcasting, recording, and sound amplifying systems. Its basic component is a diaphragm that responds to the pressure or particle velocity of sound waves. and asked her to say a few words. ``There was dead silence,'' Sherman recalled. ``Here was a quiet, shy woman who has worked with us for 21 years we thought we all knew, but we really didn't. ``She let slip to one person what she had been doing, and now everyone knew.'' Knew that, for the last 15 years, while the rest of them had been vacationing in places like Hawaii and Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. or cruising to Alaska, the soft-spoken fifth-floor charge nurse had been using her vacation time to travel the world on humanitarian missions. Paying her own way to provide medical treatment to poor villagers in India, Romania, the Dominican Republic Dominican Republic (dəmĭn`ĭkən), republic (2005 est. pop. 8,950,000), 18,700 sq mi (48,442 sq km), West Indies, on the eastern two thirds of the island of Hispaniola. The capital and largest city is Santo Domingo. , Nigeria, the Philippines, Brazil, China, Mongolia and Ghana. Spending her two-week vacation in 1989 in Minsk, Russia, where she helped care for children scarred scar 1 n. 1. A mark left on the skin after a surface injury or wound has healed. 2. A lingering sign of damage or injury, either mental or physical: in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster three years earlier. Returning to Russia in 1990 and 1997 to operate dental clinics for children who had never before received dental care. ``Beverly says these trips don't cost any more than a regular vacation would, but, of course, these are not regular vacations,'' Sherman said. No, they're not. And that's why you could hear a pin drop when she was asked to say a few words in the cafeteria a couple of weeks ago. Two events in her life explain a lot. One, Beverly was born in Wolverine wolverine or glutton, largest member of the weasel family, Gulo gulo, found in the northern parts of North America and Eurasia, usually in high mountains near the timberline or in tundra. , Mich., during the Great Depression. ``Like a lot of other families, we were poor - very poor,'' she says. ``Sometimes when I look back, I think that time was preparation for these missions.'' When you've gone hungry and felt fear every day growing up, you know exactly how the poor children of the world feel when you look into their faces today. You want to help. Then, you want to help some more. The other is Mary, the fifth of Beverly's six children. Mary was born with cerebral palsy cerebral palsy (sərē`brəl pôl`zē), disability caused by brain damage before or during birth or in the first years, resulting in a loss of voluntary muscular control and coordination. , and Beverly went into nursing to learn the skills to help care for her daughter, who is now 40. She found that nursing helped develop another skill, too. ``It got my mind off myself and made me concerned with other people,'' Beverly said. That concern turned into action in 1988, when her friend, Millie Gillingham, who had undergone open heart surgery a year earlier, told Beverly she was going on a medical mission to India. Wanting to make sure Millie was cared for during her trip, Beverly decided to go along. ``She's a marvelous nurse and friend,'' said Millie, who lives in Glendale. ``It's amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. that she's been going somewhere in the world every year since we went to India to help poor people, always paying her own way.'' Maybe, Beverly says, but it doesn't cost anymore than a regular vacation. Most of these trips have been taken with Medical Ministry International, an evangelistic organization headquartered outside Dallas, Texas “Dallas” redirects here. For other uses, see Dallas (disambiguation). The City of Dallas (pronounced [ˈdæl.əs] or [ˈdæl. . For information, call (972) 727-5864. ``Like Beverly, most of our volunteers take their vacation time to go somewhere in the world with us, usually winding up working harder than they work back home,'' said Russell Browder, spokesman for Medical Ministry International. ``We have over 1,400 volunteers this year going on two-week and one-week missions for the 65 humanitarian projects we have going in countries that have invited us in. ``All of the volunteers come back feeling like they received more than they gave to these poor people,'' he said. What it does, Beverly says, is make her come back to work appreciating what her hospital - and this country - have to offer. She still can't describe some of the scenes without crying, such as the first day she walked into that hospital in Minsk and saw the children of Chernobyl lying in beds in pain, their mothers sitting beside them crying. Or the orphaned or·phan n. 1. a. A child whose parents are dead. b. A child who has been deprived of parental care and has not been adopted. 2. A young animal without a mother. 3. children living in the sewers of Mongolia, or the tribes in Africa who are so appreciative, even if the only thing you have for offer them to ease the pain of an operation is a Motrin. It beats what they usually have - nothing. There's a face, a story from every ``vacation'' Beverly Bent has been on the last 15 years, and all of them are life changing, she says, adding she's hoping to have a chance this year to do humanitarian work somewhere in the Middle East. ``You come back feeling like you've had a vacation,'' she says. ``A very important vacation.'' Dennis McCarthy, (818) 3749 dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo, box, map Photo: Nurse Beverly Bent says that her travels to other countries make her feel like she's spent her time on ``a very important vacation.'' John McCoy/Staff Photographer Box/Map: BEVERLY BENT'S HUMANITARIAN MISSION Daily News |
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