CALEB NICKERSON
SHAWVILLE April 28, 2018
Two nursing instructors from the Pontiac Continuing Education Centre hosted a barbeque outside the Giant Tiger in Shawville on April 28 to raise money for a humanitarian mission upon which they will soon be embarking.
Susanne Poirier and Heidi Hall will be departing on May 5 for San José de Ocoa in the Dominican Republic. The pair are planning on volunteering in a variety of capacities over the 12 days they will be staying, from providing nursing care in remote areas to lending a hand in orphanages and soup kitchens.
“This is the first time we’ve done an international trip,” explained Poirier, adding that they would be travelling with the charity Rayjon Share Care, based out of Sarnia, Ont.
In addition to their nursing expertise, each of them will be bringing down a hockey bag full of medical supplies as well.
“We’re doing this to give back to the community and just step out of our box,” Poirier said. “See what their realities are in order to help us appreciate what we have.”
She and Hall will be joining a group of experienced hands from a vocational school in Chateauguay, Que., who have been making this trip for the past several years. In the future, they would like to be able to take some of their own students on such trips.
Poirier said that the cost of their trip will be about $2,500 each, and since they only decided to join the trip three short weeks ago, their preparations have been an absolute whirlwind. They explained that they’ve received a lot of support from local businesses and thanked those that had pitched in.
“We’ve had a lot of help from our friends,” Hall said.
Those wishing to make a donation can visit the pair’s GoFundMe page at: https://www.gofundme.com/nursing-teachers-go-international.
