Медсестра из Миссури провела год, ухаживая за пожилыми индейцами, перед поступлением в медицинскую школу

Mary Helen Schaefer, a lifelong parishioner at St. Vincent de Paul in Rogers, was looking for a way to spend her gap year after graduating from college and found her answer by working with members of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe in Montana. The 23-year-old spent the past 10 months as a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, caring for the elderly in Ashland, Mont. She graduated from St. Louis University in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in public health. Schaefer will enter medical school in August, studying at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. During her time at SLU, she made sure to gain the experiences she needed for the next stage of her life. Schaefer has followed many role models in a life of service. She is one of seven children of Dr. George and Alesia Schaefer, both of whom are currently in diaconate formation. An older brother, Andrew Schaefer, is currently studying for the priesthood at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana. Two cousins, Fathers Stephen Elser and Christopher Elser, and a great-uncle, Father Bill Elser, are priests. Her father, grandparents, uncle and cousins are medical doctors or are in medical school. “Growing up, I remember going and volunteering and doing some service projects, and I think that was something that my family really valued,” she said. “I knew I wanted to take a gap year — I was working in a women’s health clinic before, and I really felt like, if I wanted to go into medical school, and this is what I wanted to do for the next eight years, I wanted to do something that would challenge me and grow my perspective.” Schaefer said she appreciated the Jesuit education she got at SLU. “I was really drawn to the Jesuit values,” she said. “I liked being in spaces and communities where you were walking with (others) rather than just for them, and I really enjoyed the value of social justice that Jesuits particularly live out.” In August 2025, Schaefer joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and was assigned to work with seven other volunteers in Montana. While her peers were assigned to the St. Labre Indian School, Schaefer worked at the Heritage Living Center, an assisted living facility for the elders of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. “It’s such a privilege and an honor to be able to walk with someone at the end of their life,” she said. “End-of-life care is really walking with someone through a grief process, aging, grieving your physical body, what you were able to do and what you may not be able to do now, and then also the loss of loved ones.” “It’s definitely a community that’s been through a lot. I think it’s been really fulfilling to be welcomed into a community that has had so much trauma that they’ve lived through and be able to be trusted through some of that.” Schaefer was also an AmeriCorps volunteer, which helped fund her time with JVC. With AmeriCorps, Schaefer was required to complete a capacity-building project that others could use after she left. “I created a guidebook for new residents to help them through their transition here. It helps you think about how, as a volunteer, your time here is temporary but also you can leave a footprint and influence other volunteers to do the same,” she said. As for her medical career, Schaefer said she is still deciding which specialty to focus on. “I really want to do primary care, maybe internal medicine or rural medicine,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot about how inaccessible and the lack of health care sometimes is in these rural areas, and I think that it would be really cool to help fill some of that need and work in rural areas at the same time.”