{"id":5342,"date":"2010-10-08T15:26:06","date_gmt":"2010-10-08T19:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/blog\/news\/?p=5342"},"modified":"2011-01-25T15:53:08","modified_gmt":"2011-01-25T20:53:08","slug":"2010-distinguished-service-award-recipient-nadene-brunk-%e2%80%9975","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2010\/2010-distinguished-service-award-recipient-nadene-brunk-%e2%80%9975\/","title":{"rendered":"2010 Distinguished Service Award Recipient: Nadene Brunk, EMU Class of \u201975"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<h2>Compassionate, Gentle Births in Haiti<\/h2>\n<p>By Ken Heatwole, MD<\/p>\n<p>A  good cause. Passion. Compassion. High motivation. Extremely motivating.  Delicate negotiator. Put all of these into a lady who is already  vivacious, likable, and mild-mannered and out comes <strong>Nadene Brunk<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In 2000, I was on the medical mission team that introduced Nadene to  Haiti. Granted, as a Certified Nurse Midwife, she was already primed to  be acutely aware of women\u2019s health, especially as it relates to  pregnancy. But the impact of that visit and the seeds of vision that  were planted went well beyond her own expectations.<\/p>\n<p>The reality of what she witnessed and the statistics of Haiti \u2013 75%  of births unaided by skilled attendants, high infant and maternal  morbidity and mortality by largely preventable causes, almost  nonexistent prenatal care, early childhood disease and death rates, and  rampant postpartum disease \u2013 were more than enough to impregnate the  vision of help for the women of Haiti.<\/p>\n<p>Through her own vivid thought process and with the help of others close to the cause, Nadene birthed <a title=\"MFH\" href=\"http:\/\/www.midwivesforhaiti.org\/\">Midwives for Haiti<\/a> in 2006.<\/p>\n<p>The primary goal of MFH is to educate and  train the women of Haiti in the skills of midwifery and place them in  areas of need. We are preparing to graduate our third class and are now  interviewing candidates for the fourth. The graduates are already  embedded into various rural communities and have been highly successful.  In good modern mission philosophy, this program is for the Haitians, in  strong collaboration with local Haitians, and to be, ultimately,  largely Haitian driven. MFH is barely a toddler yet, but its growth is dramatic and largely due to Nadene.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Passion<\/strong> \u2013 The plight of the pregnant Haitian woman  and how to care for her are daily on Nadene\u2019s mind and lips. Without  hesitation, she will enter into fervent discussion on the statistics and  emotions of Haiti. Her e-mails of research, organization, and various  personal reflections are sent at all hours of the day and night.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Compassion<\/strong> \u2013 There is a certain amount of chaos and  aggressiveness during labor and delivery in Haiti. One of the lesser,  but no less important, goals that Nadene fosters in this project is her  own philosophy of compassionate and gentle care during birth. She models  this approach, urges all of the volunteers to do likewise, and actively  teaches this approach to our Haitian staff and students. And outside of  the delivery room, her compassion and caring highlight the importance  of developing and maintaining relationships.<\/p>\n<p><strong>High motivation<\/strong> \u2013 To make a project like MFH  work, sustain, and grow, there must be leadership that is greatly  motivated and driven to see the big picture, yet focus also on the  necessary details. The future for MFH may  always be cloudy. Nonetheless, since day one of this service to Haiti,  Nadene has believed strongly in her vision of better health care for the  women of Haiti and has pursued it with unbridled gusto. In the most  positive sense of the word, Nadene is obsessed with the success of this  project.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Inspiring<\/strong> \u2013 Nadene\u2019s leadership and belief in a  program that is right and good in our world excite and move those around  her. She has motivated into action: midwives across the United States  and Canada to volunteer through insight sessions at the national midwife  conference; university professors to bring their students for training  and experience; the Haitian Ministry of Health to see MFH  as a model for the rest of the country; the support of women\u2019s groups  through impassioned testimonials; churches with worship sermons; and the  MFH board and her family as we become more invested in the cause. MFH  has even captured the attention of the United Nations, the wider  international midwife community, and, hopefully with upcoming  negotiations, the Bush-Clinton Foundation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Negotiator<\/strong> \u2013 Nadene has developed into a masterful  and delicate mediator. And there has been no lack of opportunities \u2013  contracts with a challenging Haitian government, hiring and firing of  Americans and Haitians alike, working with the personalities of 250  midwives that have been placed in volunteer positions, settling  contracts of our Haitian staff, collaborating closely with the Catholic  Diocese of Richmond, and working with major benefactors like the Bon  Secours Healthcare System and the International Rotary Club. She takes  each challenge, often processing it out loud with those close to her,  and, even in the most sensitive and potentially explosive scenarios,  creates an outcome of good will for all.<\/p>\n<p>While the cause of MFH has many  contributing to its growth and success, it is fundamentally Nadene\u2019s  vision. She is the current heart and soul of this mission, but has the  wisdom and intention of raising this \u201cchild\u201d of hers into an adult  mission that can sustain itself regardless of an individual or the few.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/alumni\/awards\/\">Learn more about EMU&#8217;s annual alumni awards<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Ken Heatwole, MD, is on the board of directors of Midwives for  Haiti, as well as its medical director. He also practices family  medicine in Mechanicsville, Virginia. He is husband of Virginia \u201979, son  of John Paul Heatwole, class of \u201951, and grandson of long-time Eastern  Mennonite employee Ammon Heatwole (deceased).<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Compassionate, Gentle Births in Haiti By Ken Heatwole, MD A good cause. Passion. Compassion. High motivation. Extremely motivating. Delicate negotiator. Put all of these into a lady who is already <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2010\/2010-distinguished-service-award-recipient-nadene-brunk-%e2%80%9975\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about 2010 Distinguished Service Award Recipient: Nadene Brunk, EMU Class of \u201975<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":5343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,266,60,5600],"tags":[6794],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-5342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-homecoming","category-nursing","tag-distinguished-service-award"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>2010 Distinguished Service Award Recipient: Nadene Brunk, EMU Class of \u201975 - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2010\/2010-distinguished-service-award-recipient-nadene-brunk-\u201975\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2010 Distinguished Service Award Recipient: Nadene Brunk, EMU Class of \u201975 - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Compassionate, Gentle Births in Haiti By Ken Heatwole, MD A good cause. 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