Dr. Jessie Stone selling mosquito netting
Saving Lives and Splashing the Competition
Paddling the Nile River and educating eastern Ugandans about malaria prevention, Jessie Stone, MD, is living her whitewater dream while saving lives. A medical doctor from Westchester, New York, “Dr. Jessie,” 42, started a malaria outreach/education program covering the Jinja and Kamuli districts in 2004. Last year, in Bujagali, she opened Soft Power Health, a general medical facility, also offering family planning and malaria testing.
“As a professional athlete, it’s challenging to run Soft Power Health and train at a high level,” says Jessie, a professional whitewater kayaker sponsored by Jackson Kayaks. “Lucky for me I live next to one of the greatest whitewater rivers.” She paddles the Nile’s class IV and V rapids daily for fitness and relaxation. Last year she took fourth at the TEVA Mountain Games Freestyle competition and tenth at the Freestyle World Championships. No surprise, most of her volunteers are kayakers.
Dr. Jessie and her staff spend tireless hours driving hot, dusty, wrecked red-clay roads to reach rural communities and teach about malaria contraction and prevention. At the end of each session, she sells subsidized nets for about $1.50, or a day’s pay. Why not give them away? “Buying nets give people a sense of ownership,” she says. Three to five months later, she and her staff return to the villages to make follow-up house and hut calls and to ensure that the nets are properly hung and without holes.
“Nothing beats talking to rural villagers to find out what they know (and don’t) and what they need,” she says, explaining what keeps her going. “My motivation comes from seeing a program that works and how grateful people are for a little assistance.” As of January 1, 2009, Soft Power Health has sold more than 30,000 nets and educated more than 100,000 people.
Adding super to Superwoman, when in the States, Jessie runs a kayaking program for inner-city kids from Harlem, New York. Last fall some of the kids visited Uganda. She says, “It was incredible having them helping at the clinic and playing on the Nile.”
This year Jessie hopes to make the U.S. Freestyle Kayak team, compete at Kayak Freestyle World Championships, and take an expedition river trip in Gabon, with time off the water to explore the area’s malaria problem. In the long run, she says, “I’d like our clinic and malaria education/prevention program to continue to grow.” She also wants to set up a mosquito net manufacturing operation. “Most of all, I am grateful for my good fortune and I enjoy what I do!”
