Poppy Buchanan's Story

Posted on Dec 20, 2006

This is a draft of a letter for the VUSN NURSE by Poppy Buchanan – 12/29/05

Poppy Pickering Buchanan earned her BSN from Vanderbilt School of Nursing in 1961. She worked in public health and taught briefly at Vanderbilt USN. She is married, the mother of two daughters and seven grandchildren. Ms. Buchanan has always thought that nurses are a special breed of people who can do anything. Here’s an example:

I‘ve always loved adventure and traveling, but I had no idea how a trip to Kenya in 1999 would change my life. While visiting some medical missionary friends, I met Susan Kaburu, the matron in charge of a local 37 bed health center.

Susan is a nurse midwife, trained and experienced in all areas of nursing. She believes that she is called to be a missionary to her own people, through her work. Her main problem at that time was the lack of basic supplies such as bandages, sutures, gloves, suction tubing, etc. In response to a “divine nudge” I told her to make a list of the supplies needed and I would do my best to get them to her. She came with a detailed list on lined paper ending with a generator, an x-ray machine and an ambulance. So began the miracle!