Yvonne Washington-Turay God’s House International Founder Nominated for Sierra Leone Excellence Award in Healthcare
Atlanta, GA April 10, 2009 (WiredPRNews.com) (God’s House International.org) Yvonne Washington-Turay, Family Nurse Practitioner, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of God’s House International, was selected as a nominee for the health section of the 2009 Sierra Leone Excellence Award, the London-based organization announced this week.
The national award recognizes individuals or groups who have shown outstanding support and has given significant service benefiting the Sierra Leone community. Washington-Turay is scheduled to attend the Sierra Leone Independence Celebration May 1-4, hosted by the Sierra Leone High Commission’s African Children and Youth Center . The event will be held at the Regent Banqueting Suite in London, England.
“I am honored to be nominated for the Sierra Leone Excellence Award,” said Washington-Turay. “We have enjoyed our work in Freetown and will continue to join forces with local and international organizations and individuals to provide health care to poverty stricken families in the area.”
The award was founded by Aminata Sesay-Conteh, a youth activist who was in the United Kingdom on the eve of a bitter civil war that raged for almost a decade in the small West African country home to five million people.
Officials say nominees had to show selfless efforts that forged a new path to honor future growth and the redevelopment of Sierra Leone. The award also supports vital projects promoting the importance of education among all youth and creating an environment of equal opportunity for the distribution of social amenities as a matter of right, not privileges.
Committee members say that the U.S. born Washington-Turay, who traced her ancestral roots to the Gullah Geechee people of South Carolina that originated in Sierra Leone, has shown remarkable support to the health of the children of Sierra Leone. “She has not turned her back on her roots and has been very helpful to the people of the country,” said officials in a press release that announced the nominations this week. Washington-Turay, a U.S. Air Force veteran, who has a passion for those afflicted with the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was a hands-down pick for her courage in supporting care for HIV positive parents after the war in Sierra Leone. Washington-Turay, a family nurse practitioner, who has also worked with HIV/AIDS patients in the U.S. Virgin Islands for several years, provides counseling, testing, and educational sessions in Sierra Leone communities during planned health missions on average of four times a year. She has a clinic currently under construction that will be a great help to the Sierra Leone community. “Yvonne has provided primary care to people living with HIV/ AIDS, tuberculosis, and other sexually transmitted diseases in our country,” officials say. “She is doing a lot, and is an inspiration.” For more information about Washington-Turay and the outreach missions of God’s House International visit www.godshouseinternational.org. Supporters can cast votes to seal Washington-Turay’s win in London, on the Health section of sierraleoneexcellenceawards.com/nominate.htm.
Merlin JnBaptisteGod’s House International
[email protected] Atlanta, GA
