Our Story
The roots of Nomadicare came in 1994, from the first moment director Sas Carey stepped on the Mongolian earth and felt the strength of the land. With other American holistic nurses, she met Dr. B. Boldsaikhan, the President of the Union of Traditional Mongolian Medicine, who was copying Tibetan Medicine folios onto his computer. A nurse and healer, she found what she was seeking—a harmony of Eastern and Western medicine, old and new. The next year, she spent three months being trained in Traditional Mongolian Medicine by Dr. Boldsaikhan and in 1997 she became a health education consultant with the United Nations Development Programme. From this work in water, sanitation and hygiene with the UNDP in the Gobi Desert area, she felt her next project was to document the harsh life of the nomadic women.
In Mongolia, nomads who herd their livestock in the countryside have fewer options, especially in health care, than city dwellers, and many are moving to the capital city, Ulaanbaatar. Nomadicare was formed to support improved health care so that nomadic herders can continue their sustainable lifestyle.
Nomadicare invites the nomads to share their lives on video with the international community. While interviewing nomadic women, a sum (county) doctor in the Gobi Desert area requested a diagnostic laboratory. This inspired Nomadicare’s director to seek donations and materials from U.S. medical centers, professionals, and personal associates. Eventually, she delivered five laboratories to remote hospitals in the Gobi Desert. With these came not only training in the use of diagnostic equipment and tests, but the beginnings of close personal bonds. Those relationships led to the movie “Gobi Women’s Song”, which was completed after four more trips and five years.
After a screening of the movie in Connecticut, a board member of the Jane Goodall Institute invited Sas to share her work Jane Goodall, the founder. From this connection, Jane Goodall has endorsed the important mission of Nomadicare. Jane Goodall Letter.
In 2003, after nine years working in other areas of Mongolia, director Sas Carey traveled to the northern taiga (boggy forest) area near the Russian border to assess the health of Dukha reindeer herders. Since that time, Nomadicare has been creating a Dukha health database, which is updated annually. The database allows Ms. Carey to follow the health care needs of the herders and respond accordingly. Nomadicare provides vitamins, health care, and hygiene teaching to the Dukha herders.This includes traditional Mongolian medicine, as well as western medicine and supplies, for both hospitals and individuals.
Sas Carey, through Nomadicare, is dedicated to providing effective health care for the entire nomadic population of Mongolia by 2020, one province (aimag) at a time.