Retired nurse blends medical, language skills to aid patients

Luisa Barnett

Luisa Barnett, a retired nurse who is a native of Bogota, Colombia, combines her language skills and medical experience to comfort Spanish-speaking people far from home who seek treatment here. She is a translator who serves as a vital link between caregivers and their patients and families.

Four years ago, she volunteered to assist in the newborn nursery at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital. When the nurses learned of her bilingual skills, she was asked to help teach baby care to new, Spanish-speaking mothers.

Speaking by phone from Bogota, Barnett said of her volunteer work, "It really gives me good satisfaction and warmth in my heart because the people are in need."

During the past year, Barnett was forced to take a temporary leave from her volunteer work to be treated for liver cancer and then undergo a

quadruple heart bypass operation. After seven months of chemotherapy, her cancer is in remission. When her health got better, she returned to rocking babies at the hospital.

Barnett, 68, is visiting in Bogota for three months. "I was anxious to see my family," she said. The Jefferson Award was a complete surprise. "I was overwhelmed. This is nice to see somebody interested in my little life," she said.

The rainy season is almost over in her hometown of more than 7 million people, and the weather is beautiful, she said. Sixteen friends and relatives crammed into her tiny apartment to welcome her home July 24, including her brother, Fabio Ramirez, 76, her sister, Cecilia Mora, 58, and nieces and nephews.

She came to the United States to train as a nurse and worked for about six years in New York City emergency rooms. She also worked for two doctors in a private practice. She and her husband, Alfred Barnett, met in the Big Apple. Westvaco transferred him to Summerville in 1992. Their daughter, Maria Johnson, lives there.

New York and Bogota have their charms, but for Barnett nothing beats Flowertown. "I love it. It's not as peaceful as it used to be because there are more people living there," she said. She volunteers in the soup kitchen. She holds dual citizenship in Colombia and the United States. "I love my United States. It has given me everything," she said.

She had a vital role in 2006 when a 12-year-old Panamanian girl came here for surgery. The girl had fallen off a horse and the reins tangled around her neck, crushing her vocal cords and robbing her of the ability to speak. A teacher who spoke only Spanish traveled with the girl.

"Luisa met them at their first doctor's visit and became a surrogate grandmother for the child all the time she was here — staying through surgery, recovery and meeting her at all of her doctors visits. To this day the sponsor family keeps her updated on the little girl's progress," Joan Perry, director of volunteers at Roper St. Francis Healthcare, said in a statement nominating Barnett for a Jefferson Award. Barnett has logged more than 450 hours as a volunteer, she said.

Also in 2006, Barnett helped a mother from Cuba who came here to be with her daughter for surgery. The mother worried that she would not be able to understand doctors and nurses while her daughter was unconscious after surgery. She also arranged for the mother to stay in the hospital with her daughter for a month.

"At discharge, the patient proudly listened as her mother thanked Luisa and the staff in a few words of new learned English," Perry said.