Area nurses say medical missions ‘life-changing’ experience

June 15, 2012

Photo submitted - Pictured are area volunteers Margie Buck, Val Erich, Julie and Amy Zuraski, Nancy Brown and Mary Kay Jovenitti on a recent medical mission trip to Honduras.

The Rice Foundation, established by Dr. Jeffrey Rice of DuBois with the goal of providing much-needed medical care to the residents of Copan, Honduras, has succeeded in erecting a birthing clinic and surgery center and treating over 60,000 patients since its inception. Rice said the services provided by the foundation and day-to-day operations are made possible by a dedicated network of volunteers who attend regular mission trips to Copan led by the foundation.
Volunteers Valerie Erich and Margie Buck of the Regional Ambulatory Surgery Center in St. Marys, who both recently returned from their second trip to Copan with the Rice Foundation, said the trips were labors of love.