Inside Duke Medicine
April Perry named DUH’s 2010 MLK Community Caregiver
posted January 12th, 2010April Perry, clinical nurse educator at Duke HomeCare & Hospice, received Duke University Hospital's 2010 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Caregiver Award.
Perry was honored for her humanitarian and life-saving work in Haiti.
William J. Fulkerson, Jr., M.D., senior vice president of clinical affairs, presented Perry with the award and a $5,000 check for Luke's Mission, the Durham-based nonprofit group she established to help advance public health initiatives in Haiti.
Perry's service to Haiti began on a medical mission trip in 2003. After that trip, her life would never be the same, and her accomplishments in Haiti have become too numerous to list them all here. During her first trip to Haiti, her translator was Romel Dorsaint, a poverty-stricken young man who dreamed of being a doctor and helping his people. Recognizing his talent and potential, April raised more than $42,000 to help pay for his seven years of medical school. Today, Romel is completing his final clinical internship year in Haiti.
Perry established Luke's Mission and set up a water-filtration system for the people of Belbede, Haiti. Today, the village has safe, clean water. During a 2008 trip to Haiti, Perry met a woman who had been suffering for eight years with a tumor on her neck. Perry raised the money necessary for the surgery and hospitalization, located a Duke surgeon who was working on sabbatical in Haiti and willing to perform the operation, and made all the arrangements. The surgery was a success, and Perry's work literally saved the woman's life.
"Her compassion and love for the people of Haiti is never-ending and unconditional," writes Susan Soleo, nurse clinician at Duke University Hospital. "There is such a sense of joy and comfort that she provides to the Haitians when she is caring for them."
Perry and the other eight nominees for the award were honored at a luncheon on Jan. 12 in the Searle Center.
Videos highlighting the work of the other nominees will be featured soon on Inside Online: