Adventure with purpose

By Randy Grider
randy@casscountynow.com

McCall Norton is not one to turn down an adventure, especially if it’s one that combines nursing, children and her faith.
And no distance is too far for the 27-year-old Atlanta native.
Norton recently returned from her second trip to Africa in the past three years. In July, she traveled to Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi, with three physicians, a nurse practitioner and two other nurses, where they provided health care to an outlining village.
“For the majority of the 10 days we were there, we did a clinic for the villagers,” Norton said. “It’s winter over there and the people had colds and you see a lot of malaria.  We brought malaria medicine so we were able to treat that, and we dealt with a lot of complaints with pains, stomach problems and things like that.”
McCall started doing domestic mission trips in middle school, traveling to Alaska, Maine, Ohio and Hawaii. After high school, she broadened her horizons, making the first of seven mission trips outside the country.
In addition to a trip to Mexico, she has also made multiple mission trips to Guatemala. Her Guatemalan mission trips were sponsored through First Baptist Church of Atlanta, where she attends church.
“We did either medical or dental clinics,” Norton said. “It was different every year. Sometimes I would help doctors, and sometimes I would help dentists.”
On trips like the one to Malawi, sponsored through Moberly Baptist Church in Longview, there is also a lot of teaching about preventative health care. 
“While we are treating people during clinic, the majority of the time is spent teaching,” Norton said.
In Malawi, Norton said she encountered something she had not witnessed before. Villagers carry passport-size personal medical charts with them when seeking health care. “Every time they go to the hospital or clinic, they take it with them,” Norton said. “All of their medical histories are in that little book. It’s like a patient chart.”
Norton, a 2007 graduate of Atlanta High School, works for Tyler, Texas-based Epic Health Services as a home-health nurse specializing in pediatrics care in the Texarkana area. On her mission trips, she is naturally drawn towards the children. 
“One of my pastors said, ‘If you are looking for McCall, just find the herd of kids, and that’s where she will be,’” Norton said. “That’s usually true. I’ve always worked in pediatrics, and I love kids.”
Adventure, traveling and helping others drives Norton’s fearless spirit.
“I feel like it’s a part of me giving the abundance of blessings that I have received to others,” she said. “I love it when there is a need, and I can help meet that need.”
In 2013, Norton made a three-month trip to Pointe Noire in the Republic of Congo to work with Mercy Ships, where medical professionals did major surgeries aboard a ship and provided other medical services for free to the locals. 
“The organization I was with had a program called Mercy Ministries,” Norton said. “When you were not working or had a day off, you could sign up to volunteer with orphanages or villages they had contacted and make relationships with the people there.”
As Norton travels to some of the poorest regions of the world, she encounters a great deal of poverty and living conditions that are less than desirable.
 “I’ve seen the living conditions in Guatemala and Africa. It never sits well with you,” Norton said. “You always want to do as much as you can to help in any way you can.”
Norton said while the health care she helps provide is important, sharing the Gospel is even more so.
“What we do medically and physically only goes so far,” Norton said. “We can give them a bottle of ibuprofen; but when that runs out, they are still going to have aches and pains. I think it is very important to administer to their soul and feed the spirit so that they know there is something beyond this.”