As the world endures the COVID-19 pandemic, medical staff at hospitals, clinics and public health departments have become the selfless superheroes of our day.

Family nurse practitioner Debbie Mahoney is one of those superheroes, though shes been fighting death and disease at home and abroad for more than 20 years.

Mahoney first went to Guatemala on a medical mission trip in June 2000 with a group from Texarkanas First Baptist Church.

I took students to San Raymundo in May 2019, and the improvements that (local residents) have done over 20 years are mind-boggling. The students were just blown away by how the Guatemalan people have improved that hospital. Its really gratifying, she said.

Mahoney also volunteers in the medical clinic at the Hiway 80 Rescue Mission in Longview, a project supported by Refuge.

Ive always enjoyed working with under-served people. Ive worked with veterans and HIV patients, said the longtime Gladewater resident.

It makes me feel good to have that feeling that you may have helped another person. . A nurse told me one time that a patient had said that every time she saw me, I made her feel special. That is the highest compliment I could have, Mahoney said.

So many things in life can make you feel beat down. If someone can help you recognize your uniqueness, thats a real gift, she said.

Its almost a ministry, to help build people up, to help them realize their potential, said Mahoney, a professor and coordinator of the masters degree in nursing program at Texas A&M Commerce.

Deborah Bell, Refuges founder, has known Mahoney for more than 20 years. They met while teaching in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Texas at Tyler during the 1990s.

Sense of adventure

Mahoney has a very generous spirit. Shes very intelligent, very dedicated to her profession, a great mother and grandmother. Shes a great friend. She always has a sense of adventure, Bell said.

Mahoney was one of Refuges first board members. She soon began recruiting her nursing students for medical mission trips to Guatemala.

Her initial effort had a snowball effect. Now Refuge takes students from all over the country, Bell said.

Mahoney received her bachelors and masters degrees in nursing from the University of Texas at Austin. The Missouri native received a doctorate in nursing from Texas Womans University in 1993.

A post-doctoral fellowship from the Kellogg Foundation enabled her to complete the family nurse practitioner program at East Carolina University in 1998. She also taught nursing at the University of Texas at Tyler for 21 years.

Since 2003, Refuge has conducted three or four health clinics each year at a hospital in San Raymundo, Guatemala. The hospital was built with funds raised in 2000 by Texarkanas First Baptist Church, according to the Refuge website.

Because the nonprofit wants to ensure its projects are sustainable, a local committee in Guatemala raises money for each clinic, Mahoney said.

I took students to San Raymundo in May 2019, and the improvements that they have done over 20 years are mind-boggling. The students were just blown away by how nice the Guatemalan people have improved that hospital. Its really gratifying, she said.

Mahoneys family also has joined in her efforts in Guatemala. Her husband, Tom, is a nurse anesthetist who has been to Guatemala twice. Her son Stephen Mahoney, a general surgery resident, and his wife, Rachel, a plastic surgery resident, have gone to Guatemala as well. Stephen Mahoney started the organization Refuge Guatemala at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, with medical students and residents going to Guatemala to deliver health care. She also has another adult son and daughter, Joseph and Sarah, and four grandchildren.

While the more than 3,000 procedures performed since 2003 by Refuge medical mission teams have improved the local populations health, not all patients respond to treatment, Mahoney said.

The need is so great. You do what you can, and you have to let it go. There are people whom you just cant save, she said.

Small efforts, big rewards

Still, the rewards for just being there and trying to help are great.

I cant emphasize enough how appreciative (Guatemalans) are, Mahoney said.

And small efforts can reap big rewards.

In developing countries where many people dont have access to clean water, intestinal parasites are a big problem. Children develop open sores; they become anemic, and that makes it hard for them to learn in school.

In 2007, Refuge started a national school-based program called Adis Lombrices! which is Goodbye Worms! in Spanish, Mahoney said. It aims to eliminate parasites hookworms, roundworms and whipworms by giving all rural children aged 2-15 a chewable tablet of Albendazole.

Rotary International clubs have generously supported this effort, Mahoney said.

Its such an inexpensive program and it does such good. Thirty cents will treat 10 children for a year, she said.

Children who get the worm medicine are growing up to be taller than their parents. (The previous generations) short stature wasnt because of genetics, it was because of malnutrition, Mahoney said.

Closer to home, Mahoney also volunteers at Longviews Hiway 80 Rescue Mission.

We can take care of small problems before they become large problems. We want to take care of everyone because their health can affect all of us, she said.

No unnecessary suffering

I have had patients at Hiway 80 who got back up on their feet and were successful, Mahoney said. I dont want any individual to suffer more than is necessary, because we are all precious individuals.

Refuge Internationals Medical Director Dr. Ken Eveland has known Mahoney since 2006, when he joined the organizations board.

When asked to describe her, the retired general surgeon said compassion.

She really does care about other people and taking care of other people. She excels in both academic and clinical areas, Eveland said.

We both have a lot in common in practicing medicine, how medicine ought to be practiced. Patient first, ethics second. Our passion is to take care of the least of these, in Guatemala and at the Hiway 80 Rescue Mission in Longview, he added.

Groups who contribute to the clinic include emergency medicine physicians at Leading Edge Medical Associates and nursing faculty and students at UT Tyler.

The clinic sees about 40 to 50 patients a month, and it has provided unexpected benefits: some homeless individuals now volunteer at Refuge International.

Whenever we have projects, we call them. They have helped with a fund-raising bike ride. Theyve helped us with packing for medical mission trips, Mahoney said.

By giving them the opportunity to help others, it builds them up. It gives them joy. They may not think they have anything to give, but they do, she said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation of an upcoming medical mission to remote Sarstun, Guatemala. Mahoney had planned to again take some of her nurse practitioner students with her on the trip.

To the moon and back

However, Refuge still found a way to help others.

In late March, it donated about 11,000 items of personal protection equipment surgical caps, face masks, gloves and gowns to Christus Good Shepherd Medical Center-Longview, Longview Regional Medical Center, Christus Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler.

Refuge International Executive Director Ginia Northcutt has known Mahoney for just six months.

When you first meet her, it is very obvious where her heart is. Shes intelligent, shes thoughtful and she has a heart for service, Northcutt said.

Bell added, Shes the quintessential nurse practitioner. Her patients would follow her to the moon and back.

Excerpt from:
'A heart for service' beats within this medical superhero's chest - Longview News-Journal