Stories of Health & Hope

February 2026

Engaging Future Healthcare Workers

SOS is a leveraging its unique niche in healthcare education to bring students at youth high school level together with students at upper education level for engaging learning experiences.

This past week, SOS welcomed nursing students from ATA College and Allied Health students from Doss High School for an innovative on-site program that simulated a nursing school experience. After participating in the hands-on skills labs led by the ATA students, a high school student said, “It was so exciting to work with the ATA students. It definitely was helpful to ask career and program questions for the future."

ATA College expressed their appreciation for the experience their students had. They set up stations where they demonstrated some of the skills they learned in clinicals to potential future nursing students, such as taking vitals. In the rotation of stations we had them work also sorting supplies for SOS, - giving both groups get a full educational experience as well as an opportunity to give back to other communities. As a result an ATA student stated "It was great to help today, we were able to give back in an immediate way with Doss High School and by sorting supplies for SOS, supporting the entirety of the mission."

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Volunteer Spotlight

Jan and Reed Martin heard about SOS from people they knew who volunteered here. They signed up to volunteer three years ago and have been here every Wednesday morning since then.

Jan is a retired special ed teacher and Reed is a retired safety risk management consultant. As life-long Louisville residents, they love the opportunity to make a difference in their community.

“Saving these supplies from going into a landfill is wonderful. My daughter, a doctor at a hospital in Rochester, doesn’t have an organization like SOS in her region. I love the environmental impact and I love the work of the SOS Education Program”, says Jan. She added, “I always feel my time has been well spent at SOS. Plus everyone is having fun while they are doing their part to make a better world and I feel very valued by everyone there.”

Reed said, “I never miss the opportunity when I visit a doctor to talk about SOS and encourage them to donated supplies to SOS. And I love being there when the elementary school students visit to volunteer.”

“He loved that they recognized him from Girl Scout Camp”, said Jan laughing.

Just another celebrity at SOS!

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Lasting Legacy of Health and Hope

In late 2024, a container of critical medical supplies and equipment arrived in Ghana’s North East Region, making it possible to open the first operating room in the rural Yagaba-Kubori Constituency—serving 72,000 people who previously had little to no access to surgical care.

When our CEO, Denise Sears, visited in February 2025, she met a mother and her newborn baby whose lives had been saved by an emergency cesarean performed just the night before. Their story is one of many made possible through this investment in care.

From January to December 2025, the SOS-equipped operating room enabled physicians to perform 151 surgeries, including 67 life-saving C-sections. This powerful impact shows how your support does more than meet an immediate need—it strengthens health systems and ensures families have access to critical, life-saving care for years to come.

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Shout Out to The Boy Scouts

We had a group of Boy Scouts here to help us make repairs and give our sorting boards a face lift. This was the project of Triston Graff as he is working on earning his Eagle Scout ranking. Thank you Triston!

We need you at SOS because we can't do our mission without volunteers! Bring your friends, book club, bible study, office mates, or just come by yourself.

Email Sarah.Mayer@soshealthandhope.org with any questions or use the button below.

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