GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — For 30 years, Dr. Jeri Kessenich has made her mark on Helen DeVos Children's Hospital.
"The number of patients she's cared for, and the number of kids that she's taking care of, is in the tens of thousands," explained Dr. Robert Fitzgerald, president of Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. "There's a lot of leaders here that are in their position and leading because Jeri was here."
Dr. Fitzgerald includes himself in that club.
As much praise as everyone here would heap on her, she can give it right back.
"This place is amazing," Dr. Kessenich said. "I am loyal to the end to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital."
It just so happens, Dr. Kessenich plans to retire Sept. 30.
Across three decades, thousands of patients and hundreds of colleagues, her work isn't limited to the walls of the building in downtown Grand Rapids.
She has partnered with others in the hospital for two different nonprofits benefiting children in Haiti. They tackle the challenges of providing healthcare in a resource-limited country.
Dr. Kessenich said, "My goal was to help physicians and nurses in the country of Haiti learn to take care of children so that they wouldn't need help from other countries."
She helped found the "Power of Education Foundation" in 2010, but it didn't just focus on schools.
READ MORE: The Power of Education Foundation
"I said, 'Do not start a school unless I can put a clinic there because kids are not going to learn if they don't have food, and they don't have health care,'" she shared.
"What we found is the pass rate for those kids is about 99%. And the average pass rate in Haiti is about 50%. So the school has done amazing work educationally, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that the kids were just healthier."
Dr. Kessenich's twice-a-year visits to Haiti have been put on hold because of both COVID and the civil unrest, but the work hasn't stopped.
Her pride for both her work in Haiti and the hospital is evident.
"If it's a labor of love, it doesn't feel like labor at all. So that's really how Haiti has been for me."
Whether she feels it or not, it is a lot of work and she's being recognized for it.
Dr. Kessenich was nominated and selected as FOX 17's Pay it Forward Spotlight Award winner for July.
"It fits Jeri to a tee," said Dr. Fitzgerald, who nominated her. "She has amazing commitment to the patients she cares for, but also the staff that she works with, her colleagues that she works with and the families of the patients that she works with."
Next month's Spotlight category is First Responders.
Know someone who should be our next Pay it Forward Spotlight Award winner? Nominate them here.
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