"My earliest tasks included reaching out to people in rural areas such as nurses, community health workers, chiefs and elders," she recalls. "I did this by assessing the current health structure's needs and by establishing a continuous education and evaluation program." She adds, "The community health workers who have graduated have opened their own clinics in their own home towns or villages, and are today serving thousands of people."

AIDS patients started to be seen in Berekum, Ghana, in the late 1980's. After taking counseling training from a Loretto Sister, Sister Margaret began training the primary health care and nursing staff, and also the inpatient nursing staff. The training was then extended to include government departments, other health institutions, and other religious groups. Sister Margaret also wrote 2 widely distributed booklets about AIDS.

"I helped to set up a system for the inpatient care, outpatient care, and home visiting," she explains. "In our catchment area, which was a radius of about 60 miles, I tried to go and visit in each village, and I took a staff nurse with me."

In 2000, Sister Margaret became District Coordinator of West Africa and moved to Kumasi, Ghana. She also served as the Executive Secretary for the Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious in Ghana, and did holistic health work at the Center for Spiritual Renewal.