Sister Helen Marie Schmidt

Sister Helen Marie Schmidt

Helen Marie Schmidt was born on November 16, 1936 to Benjamin Gustav Schmidt and Alma Bertha Rich in Spokane, Washington.

Helen and Bob started grade school in Spokane while Ben and Alma were living in Spokane.  Then the family moved to the Spokane Valley, where she attended Veradale Grade School, then the Central Valley Junior High School (in the first class to graduate from the new Junior High School).  She then graduated from Central Valley High School.

Her University life started at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington as the first member of our family to graduate from college.  Her next step was to the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia for her Medical Degree.  She then went on to Virginia Mason Hospital in  Seattle for her Residency in Surgery.

After completing her Residency, she went to Alaska to fill in for a doctor with a practice providing medical care to the fishermen and local residents in Alaska.  The doctor had gone back to Seattle for medical care himself that was unavailable to him in Alaska.  While there, the doctor she was replacing unexpectedly passed away.   Helen then purchased the practice, and stayed there for several years.

She then went on to the next step in her life plan, to serve as a surgeon and Medical Missionary in Cameroon, Africa.  She served there for 34 years.

Bob, Helen and I had been going to church summer camps for several years as teenagers, and were exposed to medical missionaries, nurses and doctors, who were serving in Cameroon, and other foreign missionary fields.  These contacts inspired Helen to follow in their steps,which she did.

Helen's education and training were a costly and difficult process, since Ben and Alma were not wealthy by any means.  Our parents provided most of the costs.  Some minimal financial help did come from the North American Baptist Convention to cover part of her medical school costs.

At the time when Helen started her service in Cameroon, there was little in the way of modern medical care in the area.  In fact, many depended on the local witch doctors for care when they became ill, and would only come to the American hospital after all other options were not successful.  In many cases, they came after it was already too late for proper care and healing.  The Bamenda Hospital may have had up to 100 beds when she arrived.  Over the years this expanded to several times the number of beds, with additional doctors and nurses added.  Additional hospitals  have been added, and there is now a Catholic hospital in Bamenda as well.

Jane and I went over to Cameroon along with our mother Alma for the 50th anniversary of the hospital.  Jane had worked as an office manager for a group of doctors, so she has been exposed to modern medical practices.  We were curious as to what the wooden peg boards in the outer courtyard of the hospital were used for.  We found out that they wash the rubber gloves, and put them out on the pegs to dry.  Many things are reused that are being thrown away here.  Clothes and towels were draped over bushes to dry.  The patients have their families come with them to the hospital, and do their laundry, and provide their meals.  Most of the equipment used in the hospital come from donations from US hospitals and medical practices, as the Americans get new equipment and donate the used equipment for use in the Cameroon missionary hospitals.

At the 50th anniversary celebration, Cameroonian government officials came to honor Helen and one of the nurses that had been serving at the  hospital for decades.

After Helen retired from her work in Cameroon, she became the Doctor of Record for a home health care organization that provides home medical services for the elderly who cannot readily get in to a doctor's office.  At the age of 83, she is still  providing needed medical services for those in need.