Featured Saturday workshop

Annual Gathering 2019

International service has been an important part of Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship and its predecessors throughout its rich history. The Student Elective Term (SET) provides for travel and living expenses in an international mission setting for graduate students seeking to enrich their education and get a taste for cross-cultural service.  MHF is delighted to feature this workshop in which a recent SET student shares about her overseas experience.

We hope you will join us at Annual Gathering 2019 for this and other exciting workshops!

Training Community Leaders on Maternal and Child Health Services

Rebekah Maldonado-Nofziger, BSN, RN, DNP

In 2016 Strengthening Care Opportunities Through Partnership in Ethiopia (SCOPE) attained a grant to conduct an implementation science project designed to prevent maternal death: Faith Leaders Advocating for Maternal Empowerment (FLAME). This project pairs Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) priests with Health Development Army (HDA) workers at six rural health centers in the North Gondar zone to identify and meet with new pregnant mothers, and deliver education surrounding maternal health services, particularly Antenatal Care (ANC) and skilled delivery. As a SCOPE fellow, Rebekah helped develop the project and then stayed on in Gondar with the aid of a SET grant to finish her project and doctoral studies. She will discuss the importance of partnerships between educational and faith-based institutions as well as in the communities being served to improve maternal and infant health outcomes.

Rebekah Maldonado-Nofziger, BSN, RN, DNP

Seattle, Washington

Rebekah Maldonado-Nofziger graduated this spring from the University of Washington with a Doctor of Nursing Practice in Population Health. She is a 2012 nursing graduate of Eastern Mennonite University. Following work in Seattle, Washington, she completed her nursing practicum in Gondar, Ethiopia as a fellow in the Strengthening Care Opportunities through Partnership in Ethiopia (SCOPE) program. Her project involved building partnerships with Ethiopian Orthodox Priests and the Health Development Army as health educators to meet new pregnant women in their homes and talk about the importance of antenatal care and having their delivery at the health center with a skilled attendant. The hope is that this will assist in ultimately reducing the maternal and neonatal mortality rates in Ethiopia. With the assistance of a SET grant through the Mennonite Health Fellowship, Rebekah completed her final project at the School of Nursing at University of Gondar for her DNP degree. She is currently seeking a career in public health either internationally or stateside.