Nursing students really do make a difference!
It started as a project for Dr. Sandy MacDonald's fourth-year nursing course in complex care. School of Nursing (SON) students launched Spread the Net in 2012, hoping to raise awareness about malaria, and at least $1,000 to help fight malaraia deaths in Africa.
The students were thrilled when they ended up raising well over $5,000 for insecticidal bed nets - enough to help 500 families in West Africa.
Now a new report on malaria in Africa is saying there's been a dramatic cut in malaria deaths thanks to the efforts of many involved in projects such as Spread the Net!
SON students more than surpassed their original goal, raising $5,526.40 through their campaign for nets that were distributed to families in Guinea, West Africa via Spread the Net partner Plan Canada.
"We are ecstatic about our success," said Sarah Whalen back in 2013 when she had a final fundraising tally. Ms. Whelen is a recent nursing alumna who brought the campaign to the St. John's campus when she was a student in Dr. MacDonald's complex care class.
"We received much more support than we expected or could hope for, from family, friends and faculty. We are very, very proud of our work and the contribution that we could make on behalf of Memorial and our donors to Spread the Net.
"This is a great story, an example of the interest and commitment that nurses have to international health, and to helping people take care of their own health," said Dr. Alice Gaudine, dean of Memorial's School of Nursing,
The new World Health Organizaton (WHO) report on malaria deaths credited the work of organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, along with campaigns like Spread the Net, for bringing about the sharp decrease.
Ms. Whalen and other nursing students who launched the Nursing students the campaign on the St. John's Campus in 2012 had seen first hand the impact of malaria in Africa.
"I have been to Kenya and Malawi where malaria is present and it is heart-breaking to see the devastation that malaria causes. Something as simple as a $10 mosquito net is out of reach for most families and it can prevent such terrible disease," said Ms. Whalen at the time of the campaign launch in October of 2012. .
Ms. Whalen's team included nursing students Kaleigh Newton and Luke Redmond from the SON, and Jessica Bailey from the Centre for Nursing Studies.
"During my time in Fort Portal, a rural town in Uganda, I had the opportunity to meet the most amazing people," said Ms. Newton. "The people I had the privilege to speak to during my stay are a huge reason why when Sarah came to me I was so inclined to be a part of the Spread the Net campaign."
The students' campaign was whole-heartedly endorsed by Dr. MacDonald and others in the SON.
Their fundraising work two years ago is still paying off, said Dr. MacDonald. "What a wonderful Xmas gift to hear that the efforts of nursing students in NL made a difference in global health. Well done!"
The SON-led campaign was the second time in recent years that the Memorial community had taken up the cause to help end malaria deaths through Spread the Net. Back in 2008 students at Grenfell Campus raised just over $3,000 to raise money for mosquito nets.
The new WHO report urges the global community to remain vigilant and continue supporting efforst to curb malaria deaths.